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IETF RFC 2282
IAB and IESG Selection, Confirmation, and Recall Process: Operation of the Nominating and Recall Committees
Last modified on Friday, February 6th, 1998
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Network Working Group J. Galvin
Request for Comments: 2282 eList eXpress LLC
BCP: 10 February 1998
Obsoletes: 2027
Category: Best Current Practice
IAB and IESG Selection, Confirmation, and Recall Process:
Operation of the Nominating and Recall Committees
 Status of this Memo
This document specifies an Internet Best Current Practices for the
Internet Community, and requests discussion and suggestions for
improvements. Distribution of this memo is unlimited.
Copyright Notice
Copyright © The Internet Society (1998). All Rights Reserved.
Abstract
The process by which the members of the IAB and IESG are selected,
confirmed, and recalled is specified. The evolution of the process
has relied principally on oral tradition as a means by which the
lessons learned could be passed on to successive committees. This
document is a self-consistent, organized compilation of the process
as it is known today.
Table of Contents
1 Introduction ................................................. 1
2 General ...................................................... 2
3 Nominating Committee Selection ............................... 6
4 Nominating Committee Operation ............................... 7
5 Member Recall ................................................ 11
6 Changes From RFC 2027 ......................................... 12
7 Security Considerations ...................................... 13
8 Editor's Address ............................................. 13
9 Full Copyright Statement ..................................... 14
1. Introduction
This document supercedes RFC 2027, the first complete specification of
the process by which members of the IAB and IESG are selected,
confirmed, and recalled. Prior to that time, a single paragraph in
RFC 1602 is the extent to which the process had been formally
recorded.
Galvin Best Current Practice PAGE 1 
RFC 2282 IAB and IESG Selection February 1998
This revision is based on the experience of the 1996 Nominating
Committee, the first committee to operate according to RFC 2027. The
following two assumptions of that specification are also true for
this revision.
(1) The Internet Research Task Force (IRTF) and Internet Research
Steering Group (IRSG) are not a part of the process described
here.
(2) The organization (and re-organization) of the IESG is not a
part of the process described here.
The time frames specified here use IETF meetings as a frame of
reference. The time frames assume that the IETF meets at least once
per year with that meeting occurring during the North American Spring
time, i.e., the IETF meets at least on or about March of each year.
The remainder of this document is divided into four major topics as
follows.
General
This a set of rules and constraints that apply to the selection
and confirmation process as a whole.
Nominating Committee Selection
This is the process by which volunteers from the IETF community
are recognized to serve on the committee that nominates
candidates to serve on the IESG and IAB.
Nominating Committee Operation
This is the set of principles, rules, and constraints that guide
the activities of the nominating committee, including the
confirmation process.
Member Recall
This is the process by which the behavior of a sitting member of
the IESG or IAB may be questioned, perhaps resulting in the
removal of the sitting member.
A final section describes how this document differs from its
predecessor: RFC 2027.
2. General
The following set of rules apply to the selection and confirmation
process as a whole. If necessary, a paragraph discussing the
interpretation of each rule is included.
Galvin Best Current Practice PAGE 2
RFC 2282 IAB and IESG Selection February 1998
(1) The principal functions of the nominating committee are to
review the open IESG and IAB positions and to either nominate
its incumbent or recruit a superior candidate.
The nominating committee does not select the open positions to
be reviewed; it is instructed as to which positions to review.
At a minimum, the nominating committee will be given the title
of the position to be reviewed. The nominating committee may be
given a desirable set of qualifications for the candidate
nominated to fill each position.
Incumbents must notify the nominating committee if they do not
wish to be nominated.
The nominating committee does not confirm its candidates; it
presents its candidates to the appropriate confirming body as
indicated below.
(2) The annual selection and confirmation process is expected to
be completed within 3 months.
The annual selection and confirmation process is expected to be
completed one month prior to the friday of the week before the
Spring IETF. It is expected to begin 4 months prior to the
friday of the week before the Spring IETF.
(3) One-half of each of the then current IESG and IAB positions is
selected to be reviewed each year.
The intent of this rule to ensure the review of approximately
one-half of each of the sitting IESG and IAB members each year.
It is recognized that circumstances may exist that will require
the nominating committee to review more or less than one-half of
the current positions, e.g., if the IESG or IAB have re-
organized prior to this process and created new positions, or if
there are an odd number current positions.
(4) Confirmed candidates are expected to serve at least a 2 year
term.
The intent of this rule is to ensure that members of the IESG
and IAB serve the number of years that best facilitates the
review of one-half of the members each year.
It is consistent with this rule for the nominating committee to
choose one or more of the currently open positions to which it
may assign a term greater than 2 years in order to ensure the
Galvin Best Current Practice PAGE 3
RFC 2282 IAB and IESG Selection February 1998
ideal application of this rule in the future.
It is consistent with this rule for the nominating committee to
choose one or more of the currently open positions that share
responsibilities with other positions (both those being reviewed
and those sitting) to which it may assign a term greater than 2
years to ensure that all such members will not be reviewed at
the same time.
All member terms begin and end during the Spring IETF meeting
corresponding to the end of the term for which they were
confirmed. Normally, the confirmed candidate's term begins when
the currently sitting member's term ends on the last day of the
meeting. A term may begin or end no sooner than the first day
of the meeeting as determined by the mutual agreement of the
currently sitting member and the confirmed candidate.
(5) Mid-term vacancies are filled by the same rules as documented
here with four qualifications. First, the most recently
constituted nominating committee is reconvened to nominate a
candidate to fill the vacancy. Second, the selection and
confirmation process is expected to be completed within 1
month, with all other time periods otherwise unspecified
prorated accordingly. Third, the confirming body has two
weeks from the day it is notified of a candidate to reject the
candidate, otherwise the candidate is assumed to have been
confirmed. Fourth, the term of the confirmed candidate will
be either:
a. the remainder of the term of the open position if that remainder
is not less than one year.
b. the remainder of the term of the open position plus the next 2
year term if that remainder is less than one year.
(6) All deliberations and supporting information that relates to
specific nominees, candidates, and confirmed candidates are
confidential.
The nominating committee and confirming body members will be
exposed to confidential information as a result of their
deliberations, their interactions with those they consult, and
from those who provide requested supporting information. All
members and all other participants are expected to handle this
information in a manner consistent with its sensitivity.
Galvin Best Current Practice PAGE 4
RFC 2282 IAB and IESG Selection February 1998
(7) Unless otherwise specified, the advise and consent model is
used throughout the process. This model is characterized as
follows.
a. The IETF Executive Director advises the nominating committee of
the IESG and IAB positions to be reviewed.
b. The nominating committee selects candidates and advises the
confirming bodies of them.
c. The sitting IAB members review the IESG candidates, consenting
to some, all, or none.
If all of the candidates are confirmed, the job of the
nominating committee with respect to reviewing the open IESG
positions is considered complete. If some or none of the
candidates are confirmed, the nominating committee must
reconvene to select alternate candidates for the rejected
candidates. Any additional time required by the nominating
committee should not exceed its maximum time allotment.
d. The Internet Society Board of Trustees reviews the IAB
candidates, consenting to some, all, or none.
If all of the candidates are confirmed, the job of the
nominating committee with respect to reviewing the open IAB
positions is considered complete. If some or none of the
candidates are confirmed, the nominating committee must
reconvene to select alternate candidates for the rejected
candidates. Any additional time required by the nominating
committee should not exceed its maximum time allotment.
e. The confirming bodies decide their consent according to a
mechanism of their own choosing, which must ensure that at least
one-half of the sitting members agree with the decision.
At least one-half of the sitting members of the confirming
bodies must agree to either confirm or reject each individual
nominee. The agreement must be decided within a reasonable
timeframe. The agreement may be decided by conducting a formal
vote, by asserting consensus based on informal exchanges
(email), or by whatever mechanism is used to conduct the normal
business of the confirming body.
Galvin Best Current Practice PAGE 5
RFC 2282 IAB and IESG Selection February 1998
3. Nominating Committee Selection
The following set of rules apply to the creation of the nominating
committee and the selection of its members.
(1) The committee is comprised of at least a non-voting Chair, 10
voting volunteers, and 3 non-voting liaisons.
A Chair is permitted to invite additional non-voting advisors to
participate in some or all of the deliberations of the
committee.
(2) The Internet Society President appoints the non-voting Chair,
who must meet the usual requirements for membership in the
nominating committee.
The nominating committee Chair must agree to invest the time
necessary to complete the duties of the nominating committee and
to perform in the best interests of the IETF community during
the performance of those duties.
(3) The Chair obtains the list of IESG and IAB positions to be
reviewed and publishes it along with a solicitation for names
of volunteers from the IETF community willing to serve on the
nominating committee.
The list of open positions is published with the solicitation to
facilitate community members choosing between volunteering for
an open position and volunteering for the nominating committee.
The list and solicitation must be publicized using at least the
same mechanism used by the IETF secretariat for its
announcements.
(4) Members of the IETF community must have attended at least 2 of
the last 3 IETF meetings in order to volunteer.
(5) Internet Society Board of Trustees, sitting members of the
IAB, and sitting members of the IESG may not volunteer.
(6) The Chair announces the pool of volunteers from which the 10
voting volunteers will be randomly selected.
The announcement must be made using at least the same mechanism
used by the IETF secretariat for its announcements.
Galvin Best Current Practice PAGE 6
RFC 2282 IAB and IESG Selection February 1998
(7) The Chair randomly selects the 10 voting voluteers from the
pool of names of volunteers using a method that can be
independently verified to be unbiased and fair.
A method is fair if each eligible volunteer is equally likely to
be selected. A method is unbiased if no one can influence its
outcome.
The method must include an announcement of an enumerated list of
the pool of names together with the specific algorithm for how
names will be chosen from the list. The output of the selection
algorithm must depend on random data whose value is not known at
the time the list and algorithm are announced.
One possible method is to compute the MD5 hash of future winning
lottery numbers and use the result to select names from the
list.
All announcements must be made using at least the mechanism used
by the IETF secretariat for its announcements.
(8) The sitting IAB and IESG members each appoint a non-voting
liaison to the nominating committee from their current
membership who are not sitting in an open position.
(9) The Chair of the prior year's nominating committee serves as a
non-voting liaison.
The prior year's Chair may designate an alternate voting member
from the prior year's committee if the Chair is unavailable. If
the prior year's Chair is unavailable and is unable or unwilling
to make such a designation in a timely fashion, the Chair of the
current committee may do so.
(10) The Chair may solicit additional non-voting liaisons from
other organizations, who must meet the usual requirements for
membership in the nominating committee.
4. Nominating Committee Operation
The following rules apply to the operation of the nominating
committee. If necessary, a paragraph discussing the interpretation
of each rule is included.
The rules are organized approximately in the order in which they
would be invoked.
Galvin Best Current Practice PAGE 7
RFC 2282 IAB and IESG Selection February 1998
The term nominee refers to an individual under consideration by the
nominating committee. The term candidate refers to a nominee that
has been selected by the nominating committee to be considered for
confirmation by a confirming body. A confirmed candidate is a
candidate that has been reviewed and approved by a confirming body.
(1) All rules and special circumstances not otherwise specified
are at the discretion of the Chair.
Exceptional circumstances will occasionally arise during the
normal operation of the nominating committee. This rule is
intended to foster the continued forward progress of the
committee. All members of the committee should consider whether
the exception is worthy of mention in the next revision of this
document and followup accordingly.
(2) The Chair must establish and publicize milestones, which must
include at least a call for nominations.
There is a defined time period during which the selection and
confirmation process must be completed. The Chair must
establish a set of milestones which, if met in a timely fashion,
will result in the completion of the process on time. The Chair
should allow time for iterating the activities of the committee
if one or more candidates is not confirmed.
The milestones must be publicized using at least the same
mechanism used by the IETF secretariat for its announcements.
(3) The Chair must establish a voting mechanism.
The committee must be able to objectively determine when a
decision has been made during its deliberations. The criteria
for determining closure must be established and known to all
members of the nominating committee.
(4) At least a quorum of committee members must participate in a
vote. A quorum is comprised of at least 7 voting members.
(5) The Chair may establish a process by which a member of the
nominating committee may be recalled.
The process, if established, must be agreed to by a 3/4 majority
of the members of the nominating committee, including the non-
voting members since they would be subject to the same process.
(6) All members of the nominating committee may participate in all
deliberations.
Galvin Best Current Practice PAGE 8
RFC 2282 IAB and IESG Selection February 1998
The emphasis of this rule is that no member, whether voting or
non-voting, can be explicitly excluded from any deliberation.
However, a member may individually choose not to participate in
a deliberation.
(7) The Chair announces the open positions to be reviewed and the
call for nominees.
The call for nominees must include a request for comments
regarding the past performance of incumbents, which will be
considered during the deliberations of the nominating committee.
The announcements must be publicized using at least the same
mechanism used by the IETF secretariat for its announcements.
(8) Any member of the IETF community may nominate any member of
the IETF community for any open position.
A self-nomination is permitted.
(9) Nominating committee members must not be nominees.
To be a nominee is to enter the process of being selected as a
candidate and confirmed. Nominating committee members are not
eligible to be considered for filling any open position.
(10) Members of the IETF community who were recalled from any IESG
or IAB position during the previous two years must not be
nominees.
(11) The nominating committee selects candidates based on its
understanding of the IETF community's consensus of the
qualifications required to fill the open positions.
The intent of this rule is to ensure that the nominating
committee consults with a broad base of the IETF community for
input to its deliberations.
The consultations are permitted to include a slate of nominees,
if all parties to the consultation agree to observe customary
and reasonable rules of confidentiality.
A broad base of the community should include the existing
members of the IAB and IESG, especially sitting members who
share responsibilities with open positions, e.g., co-Area
Directors.
Galvin Best Current Practice PAGE 9
RFC 2282 IAB and IESG Selection February 1998
(12) Nominees should be advised that they are being considered and
must consent to their nomination prior to being confirmed.
The nominating committee should help nominees provide
justification to their employers.
A nominee's consent must be written (email is acceptable) and
include a commitment to provide the resources necessary to fill
the open position and an assurance that the nominee will perform
the duties of the position for which they are being considered
in the best interests of the IETF community.
(13) The nominating committee advises the confirming bodies of
their candidates, specifying a single candidate for each open
position and a testament as to how each candidate meets the
qualifications of an open position.
The testament may include a brief resume of the candidate and a
summary of the deliberations of the nominating committee.
(14) With respect to any action to be taken in the context of
notifying and announcing confirmed candidates, and notifying
rejected nominees and candidates, the action must be valid
according to all of the rules specified below prior to its
execution.
a. Up until a candidate is confirmed, the identity of the candidate
must be kept confidential.
b. The identity of all nominees must be kept confidential (except
that the nominee may publicize their intentions).
c. Rejected nominees may be notified as soon as they are rejected.
d. Rejected candidates may be notified as soon as they are
rejected.
e. Rejected nominees and candidates must be notified prior to
announcing confirmed candidates.
f. Confirmed candidates may be notified and announced as soon as
they are confirmed.
It is consistent with these rules for a nominee to never know if
they were a candidate or not.
Galvin Best Current Practice PAGE 10
RFC 2282 IAB and IESG Selection February 1998
It is consistent with these rules for some nominees to be
rejected early in the process and for some nominees to be kept
as alternates in case a candidate is rejected by a confirming
body. In the matter of whether a confirmed candidate was a
first choice or an alternate, that information need not ever be
disclosed and, in fact, probably never should be.
It is consistent with these rules for confirmed candidates to be
notified and announced as quickly as possible instead of
requiring all confirmed candidates to wait until all open
positions have been reviewed.
When consulting with individual members of the IETF community,
if all parties to the consultation agree to observe customary
and reasonable rules of confidentiality the consultations are
permitted to include a slate of nominees.
The announcements must be publicized using at least the same
mechanism used by the IETF secretariat for its announcements.
5. Member Recall
The following rules apply to the recall process. If necessary, a
paragraph discussing the interpretation of each rule is included.
(1) Anyone may request the recall of any sitting IAB or IESG
member, at any time, upon written (email is acceptable)
request with justification to the Internet Society President.
(2) Internet Society President shall appoint a Recall Committee
Chair.
The Internet Society President must not evaluate the recall
request. It is explicitly the responsibility of the IETF
community to evaluate the behavior of its leaders.
(3) The recall committee is created according to the same rules as
is the nominating committee with the qualifications that the
person being investigated and the person requesting the recall
must not be a member of the recall committee in any capacity.
(4) The recall committee operates according to the same rules as
the nominating committee with the qualification that there is
no confirmation process.
(5) The recall committee investigates the circumstances of the
justification for the recall and votes on its findings.
Galvin Best Current Practice PAGE 11
RFC 2282 IAB and IESG Selection February 1998
The investigation must include at least both an opportunity for
the member being recalled to present a written statement and
consultation with third parties.
(6) A 3/4 majority of the members who vote on the question is
required for a recall.
(7) If a sitting member is recalled the open position is to be
filled according to the mid-term vacancy rules.
6. Changes From RFC 2027
(1) In order to foster better communication between nominating
committees from one year to the next the Chair of each year's
committee has been added as a non-voting liaison of the next
year's committee.
(2) In order to confirm the eligibility of each volunteer in the
pool of names from which nominating committee members are
chosen the Chair must announce the list prior to the random
selection.
(3) In order to confirm the random selection process used to
select voting nominating committee members the Chair must
announce the fair and unbiased method used in advance of its
execution.
(4) Some guidance was added to ensure that the nominating
committee consults with a broad base of the IETF community.
(5) Some guidance was added to ensure that the nominating
committee understands that it may name prospective nominees
when consulting with individual members of the IETF community.
(6) Some guidance was added to ensure that the nominating
committee understands that it is responsible for ensuring that
an appropriate set of one-half of each of the IESG and IAB
positions are reviewed each year.
Galvin Best Current Practice PAGE 12
RFC 2282 IAB and IESG Selection February 1998
7. Security Considerations
Any selection, confirmation, or recall process necessarily involves
investigation into the qualifications and activities of prospective
candidates. The investigation may reveal confidential or otherwise
private information about candidates to those participating in the
process. Each person who participates in any aspect of the process
has a responsibility to maintain the confidentiality of any and all
information not explicitly identified as suitable for public
dissemination.
8. Editor's Address
James M. Galvin
eList eXpress LLC
PO Box 220
Glenwood, MD, 21738
EMail: galvin@elistx.com
Galvin Best Current Practice PAGE 13
RFC 2282 IAB and IESG Selection February 1998
9. Full Copyright Statement
Copyright © The Internet Society (1998). All Rights Reserved.
This document and translations of it may be copied and furnished to
others, and derivative works that comment on or otherwise explain it
or assist in its implementation may be prepared, copied, published
and distributed, in whole or in part, without restriction of any
kind, provided that the above copyright notice and this paragraph are
included on all such copies and derivative works. However, this
document itself may not be modified in any way, such as by removing
the copyright notice or references to the Internet Society or other
Internet organizations, except as needed for the purpose of
developing Internet standards in which case the procedures for
copyrights defined in the Internet Standards process must be
followed, or as required to translate it into languages other than
English.
The limited permissions granted above are perpetual and will not be
revoked by the Internet Society or its successors or assigns.
This document and the information contained herein is provided on an
"AS IS" basis and THE INTERNET SOCIETY AND THE INTERNET ENGINEERING
TASK FORCE DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING
BUT NOT LIMITED TO ANY WARRANTY THAT THE USE OF THE INFORMATION
HEREIN WILL NOT INFRINGE ANY RIGHTS OR ANY IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF
MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.
Galvin Best Current Practice PAGE 14
IAB and IESG Selection, Confirmation, and Recall Process: Operation of the Nominating and Recall Committees
RFC TOTAL SIZE: 29852 bytes
PUBLICATION DATE: Friday, February 6th, 1998
LEGAL RIGHTS: The IETF Trust (see BCP 78)
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