Internet DRAFT - draft-stjohns-alt-3777bis
draft-stjohns-alt-3777bis
Network Working Group M. StJohns
Internet-Draft
Obsoletes: 3777 5078 6859 (if approved) September 15, 2014
Intended status: Best Current Practice
Expires: March 19, 2015
Selection and Tenure of IETF, IAB and IAOC Members
draft-stjohns-alt-3777bis-00.txt
Abstract
This document describes the process by which the IETF selects the
membership of the Internet Engineering Steering Group(IESG), the
Internet Architecture Board (IAB) and the Internet Administrative
Oversight Committee (IAOC) as well as the Chair of the IETF. It also
describes the manners in which such members may be removed from their
positions.
Status of This Memo
This Internet-Draft is submitted in full conformance with the
provisions of BCP 78 and BCP 79.
Internet-Drafts are working documents of the Internet Engineering
Task Force (IETF). Note that other groups may also distribute
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Internet-Drafts are draft documents valid for a maximum of six months
and may be updated, replaced, or obsoleted by other documents at any
time. It is inappropriate to use Internet-Drafts as reference
material or to cite them other than as "work in progress."
This Internet-Draft will expire on March 19, 2015.
Copyright Notice
Copyright (c) 2014 IETF Trust and the persons identified as the
document authors. All rights reserved.
This document is subject to BCP 78 and the IETF Trust's Legal
Provisions Relating to IETF Documents
(http://trustee.ietf.org/license-info) in effect on the date of
publication of this document. Please review these documents
carefully, as they describe your rights and restrictions with respect
to this document. Code Components extracted from this document must
include Simplified BSD License text as described in Section 4.e of
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the Trust Legal Provisions and are provided without warranty as
described in the Simplified BSD License.
Table of Contents
1. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
2. Definitions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
3. General . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
3.1. Timeline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
3.2. Constraints . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
3.3. Positions to Be Filled . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
3.4. Nominal Term Length . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
3.5. Mid-Term Vacancies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
3.6. Poaching Rules . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
3.7. Confidentiality . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
3.8. General Process Outline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
3.8.1. Notification of Positions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
3.8.2. Evaluation and Selection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
3.8.3. Candidate Review . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
3.8.4. Confirmation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
3.8.5. Announcements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
4. Nomcom Selection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
4.1. Organization Timeline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
4.2. Nomcom Term . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
4.3. Composition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
4.4. Chair . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
4.5. Appointment of Chair . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
4.6. Chair Substitution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
4.7. Liaisons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
4.8. Body Liaisons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
4.9. Advisors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
4.10. Past Chair Role . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
4.11. Voting Members . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
4.12. Milestone Establishment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
4.13. Position Solicitation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
4.14. Volunteer Qualifications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
4.15. Volunteer Disqualifications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
4.16. Announcement of Volunteers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
4.17. Selection Process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
4.18. Final Organization Actions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
5. Nomcom Operation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
5.1. Committee Discretion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
5.2. Nomination Deadlines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
5.3. Confirmation Deadlines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
5.4. Milestone Establishment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
5.5. Voting Mechanism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
5.6. Quorum . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
5.7. Nomcom Member Expulsion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
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5.8. Expulsion of the Nomcom Chair . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
5.9. Right to Participate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
5.10. Call for Nominees . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
5.11. Nominations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
5.12. Selection Criteria . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
5.13. Nominee Notification . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
5.14. Submission for Confirmation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
5.15. Notification of Confirmed Candidates . . . . . . . . . . 26
5.16. Record Keeping . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
6. Vacancies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
6.1. Term Expiration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
6.2. Resignation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
6.3. Death or Incapacity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
6.4. Recall . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
6.5. Expulsion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
6.6. Replacements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
6.7. Temporary Appointments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
7. Dispute Resolution Process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
8. Changes from RFC 2727 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
9. Acknowledgements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
10. Security Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
11. References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
11.1. Normative References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
11.2. Informative References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
Appendix A. Oral Tradition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
Appendix B. Nomcom Timeline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
Appendix C. Alternate Nomcom Selection Method . . . . . . . . . 40
C.1. Statistics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
C.2. Selection Process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
Author's Address . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
1. Introduction
This document is a revision of and supercedes RFC 3777. It also
includes the revisions to Nomcom rules and processes from RFC5078 and
RFC6859. It is a complete specification of the process by which
members of the IAB, IESG, and IAOC are selected and confirmed. In
addition, it describes the circumstances under which vacancies in
office may occur and the process for creating or resolving such
circumstances.
The following two assumptions continue to apply:
The Internet Research Task Force (IRTF) and Internet Research
Steering Group (IRSG) are not a part of the process described
here.
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The specification of the organization structure 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 the IETF meets three times per
calendar year with approximately equal amounts of time between them.
The meetings are referred to as the First IETF, Second IETF, and
Third (or Last) IETF as needed.
The next section lists the words and phrases commonly used throughout
this document with their intended meaning.
The majority 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.
Nomcom Selection & Organization: This is the process by which the
volunteers who will serve on the committee are recognized.
Nomcom Operation: This is the set of principles, rules, and
constraints that guide the activities of the nominating committee,
including the confirmation process.
Vacancies: This section describes the circumstances under which a
position may become vacant. This section also describes the
processes used for recall or expulsion.
A final section describes how this document differs from its
predecessors: RFC2727 and RFC3777.
An appendix of useful facts and practices collected from previous
Nomcoms is also included.
2. Definitions
The following words and phrases are commonly used throughout this
document. They are listed here with their intended meaning for the
convenience of the reader.
Candidate A nominee who has been proposed to a confirming body by
the Nomcom to fill an open position.
Confirmed Candidate A candidate that has been reviewed and approved
by a confirming body.
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Nomcom Term The term begins when its members are officially
announced. This is usually prior to the Third IETF to ensure it
is fully operational at the Third IETF. The term ends at the
conclusion of the Third IETF of the following year.
Nomcom A colloquial term for the nominating committee.
Nominee A person who is being or has been considered for one or more
open positions of the IESG, IAB or IAOC.
Sitting Member A person who is currently serving a term of
membership in the IESG, IAB, IAOC or ISOC Board of Trustees.
First IETF The first IETF plenary meeting of the year. Usually
around March.
Last IETF or Third IETF The last IETF plenary meeting of the year.
Usually around November.
Past Chair The chair of the previous year's IETF or that chair's
designee. See Section 4.10 below.
3. General
The following set of rules apply to the process as a whole.
3.1. Timeline
The completion of the annual process is due one month prior to the
Friday of the week before the First IETF. It is expected to begin at
least 8 months prior to the Friday of the week before the First IETF.
The process officially begins with the announcement of the Chair of
the committee. The process officially ends when all confirmed
candidates have been announced.
The annual process is comprised of four major components as follows.
1. The selection of the Nomcom members and organization of the
Nomcom process.
2. The nominations of potential candidates by the IETF community.
3. The selection of candidates by the Nomcom.
4. The confirmation of the candidates.
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There is an additional month set aside between when the annual
process is expected to end and the term of the new candidates is to
begin. This time may be used during unusual circumstances to extend
the time allocated for any of the components listed above.
3.2. Constraints
The principal functions of the Nomcom are to review each open IESG,
IAB and IAOC position and to nominate the best candidate for
confirmation. That candidate may be the incumbent or or any other
superior nominee.
Although there is no term limit for serving in any IESG or IAB
position, the Nomcom may use length of service as one of its criteria
for evaluating an incumbent.
The Nomcom does not select the open positions to be reviewed. The
list of positions to review is provided by the IETF Executive
Director.
The Nomcom will be given the title of the positions to be reviewed
and a brief summary of the desired expertise of the candidate that is
nominated to fill each position.
Incumbents must notify the Nomcom if they wish to be nominated.
The Nomcom is not responsible for confirmation of the candidates.
The Nomcom presents its candidates to the appropriate confirming body
as indicated in Section 3.8.3 below.
A superior candidate is one who the Nomcom believes would contribute
in such a way as to improve or enhance the body to which he or she is
nominated and who is fully qualified for the position.
3.3. Positions to Be Filled
As a general rule, one-half of each of the sitting IESG, IAB and IAOC
member's terms will expire each year during the First IETF.
The intent of this rule to ensure the review of approximately one-
half of each of the IESG, IAOC and IAB sitting members each year. It
is recognized that circumstances may exist that will require the
Nomcom to review more or less than one-half of the current positions,
e.g., if the IESG, IAOC or IAB have re-organized prior to this
process and created new positions, if there are an odd number of
current positions, or if a member unexpectedly resigns.
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3.4. Nominal Term Length
Confirmed candidates are expected to serve a full 2 year term.
The intent of this rule is to ensure that members of the IESG, IAOC
and IAB serve the number of years that best facilitates the review of
one-half of the members each year.
The term of a confirmed candidate selected according to the mid- term
vacancy rules may be less than 2 years, as stated elsewhere in this
document.
It is consistent with this rule for the Nomcom to choose one or more
of the currently open positions to which it may assign a term of not
more than 3 years in order to ensure the ideal application of this
rule in the future.
It is consistent with this rule for the Nomcom 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 of not more than 3 years to ensure that
all such members will not be reviewed at the same time.
All sitting member terms end during the First IETF meeting
corresponding to the end of the term for which they were confirmed.
All confirmed candidate terms begin during the First IETF meeting
corresponding to the beginning of the term for which they were
confirmed.
For confirmed candidates of the IESG, the terms begin no later than
when the currently sitting members' terms end on the last day of the
meeting. A term may begin or end no sooner than the first day of the
meeting and no later than the last day of the meeting as determined
by the mutual agreement of the currently sitting member and the
confirmed candidate. A confirmed candidate's term may overlap the
sitting member's term during the meeting as determined by their
mutual agreement.
For confirmed candidates of the IAB, the terms overlap with the terms
of the sitting members for the entire week of the meeting.
For confirmed candidates of the IAOC, the terms begin at the
conclusion of the First IETF. There is no overlap with terms of
sitting members.
For candidates confirmed under the mid-term vacancy rules, their term
begins upon their confirmation.
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3.5. Mid-Term Vacancies
Mid-term vacancies are filled by the same rules as documented here
with four qualifications.
First, at the time of the vacancy, if there is only one active
Nomcom, that Nomcom is responsible for filling the vacancy.
Otherwise, if the mid-term vacancy occurs during the period of time
where there are two active Nomcom's, the Nomcom convened first is
responsible for filling the vacancy.
Second, if it is the case that the Nomcom is reconvening to fill the
mid-term vacancy, then the completion of the candidate selection and
confirmation process is due within 6 weeks, 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 confirm or reject the candidate, otherwise the
candidate is assumed to have been confirmed.
Fourth, the term of the confirmed candidate will be either:
1. The remainder of the term of the open position if that remainder
is not less than one year.
2. The remainder of the term of the open position plus the next 2
year term if that remainder is less than one year.
The term remainder is calculated from the date of the vacancy, not
from the date of the confirmation.
In both cases a year is the period of time from the beginning of a
First IETF meeting to the beginning of the next First IETF meeting.
3.6. Poaching Rules
The following rules apply to candidates who are currently sitting
members of the IESG,IAOC or IAB, and who are not sitting in an open
position being filled by the Nomcom.
o The confirmation of a candidate to an open position does not
automatically create a vacancy in the IESG, IAOC or IAB position
currently occupied by the candidate. The mid-term vacancy can not
exist until, first, the candidate formally resigns from the
current position and, second, the body with the vacancy formally
decides for itself that it wants the Nomcom to fill the mid-term
vacancy according to the rules for a mid-term vacancy documented
elsewhere in this document.
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o The resignation should be effective as of when the term of the new
position begins. The resignation may remain confidential to the
IAB, IESG, IAOC, and Nomcom until the confirmed candidate is
announced for the new position. The process, according to rules
set out elsewhere in this document, of filling the seat vacated by
the confirmed candidate may begin as soon as the vacancy is
publicly announced.
o Filling a mid-term vacancy is a separate and independent action
from the customary action of filling open positions. In
particular, a Nomcom must complete its job with respect to filling
the open positions and then separately proceed with the task of
filling the mid-term vacancy according to the rules for a mid-term
vacancy documented elsewhere in this document.
o However, since the IAB is an "at-large" organization, the
following exception is permitted in the case where the candidate
for an open position is currently a sitting member of the IAB. It
is consistent with these rules for the announcements of a
resignation of a sitting member of the IAB and of the confirmed
candidate for the mid-term vacancy created by that sitting member
on the IAB to all occur at the same time as long as the actual
sequence of events that occurred did so in the following order.
1. The IAB member is confirmed for a new position.
2. The newly confirmed candidate resigns from their current
position on the IAB.
3. The IAB, now with a new mid-term vacancy, requests that the
Nomcom fill the position.
4. The Executive Director of the IETF informs the nominating
committee of the mid-term vacancy.
5. The Nomcom acts on the request to fill the mid- term vacancy.
3.7. Confidentiality
All deliberations and supporting information that relate to specific
nominees, candidates, and confirmed candidates are confidential.
With the exception of nominees' comments related to a specific person
or persons (e.g. nominee comments on current sitting members, other
nominees), and third-party comments on the nominees received by the
Nomcom, the material held by the Nomcom relevant to a proposed
candidate shall not be considered confidential from the relevant
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confirming body. However, the deliberations and internal discussions
by the Nomcom ARE confidential from all other bodies.
The Nomcom 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.
It is consistent with this rule for current Nomcom members who have
served on prior Nomcoms to advise the current committee on
deliberations and results of the prior committee, as necessary and
appropriate.
3.8. General Process Outline
Unless otherwise specified, the nominate and confirm model is used
throughout the process. This model is characterized as follows.
3.8.1. Notification of Positions
The IETF Executive Director informs the Nomcom of the IESG, IAOC and
IAB positions to be reviewed.
The IESG, IAB and IAOC are responsible for providing a summary of the
expertise desired of the candidates for the respective open positions
to the Executive Director. Those summaries are then provided to the
Nomcom for its consideration.
3.8.2. Evaluation and Selection
The Nomcom selects candidates based on its understanding of the IETF
community's consensus of the qualifications required. It then
presents the candidates to the appropriate confirming body for
confirmation.
As part of the notification, the Nomcom provides the following per-
candidate material to the appropriate confirming body:
o The position being filled.
o The candidates name and affiliation.
o The written position description.
o A brief explanation of how the Nomcom interpreted that position
description.
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o The candidate's questionnaire, redacted to remove any comments
relating to a specific person or persons.
o A brief explanation of how the candidate meets the requirements
for the position.
The Nomcom is not required to provide any additional information past
that listed above, but may do so at its option either unilaterally or
in response to a request from the confirming body.
The Nomcom shall indicate which if any of the material provided is
subject to confidentiality. In general, material provided by or
specific to the candidate shall be considered confidential. The
position description and the Nomcom's explanation of their
interpretation of that description shall not be considered
confidential and SHOULD be provided as part of the Nomcom public
report.
3.8.3. Candidate Review
For each candidate, the confirming bodies shall review the material
specific to that candidate, the position requirements provided to the
Nomcom by the Executive Director, and any explanatory material from
the Nomcom with respect to how those requirements were interpreted.
They may, at their discretion, provide questions, comments or
requests to the nominating committee, however there is no requirement
for the Nomcom to answer. After considering any response from the
Nomcom (if questions are asked) and after appropriate deliberation,
they may then confirm some, all, or none of the candidates.
The sitting IESG members are responsible for the confirmation process
of IAOC candidates. Likewise, the sitting IAB members are
responsible for IESG candidates and the Internet Society Board of
Trustees are responsible for the IAB candidates.
The confirming bodies deliberate using all information and any means
acceptable to them. This includes, but is not limited to, the
supporting information provided by the Nomcom, information known
personally to members of the confirming bodies and shared within the
confirming body, the results of interactions within the confirming
bodies. This should be viewed with an eye to the confirming bodies'
interpretation of what is in the best interests of the IETF
community. N.B.; This may result in the confirming body coming to a
conclusion that differs from that of the Nomcom with respect to
candidate suitability. This should not be considered a failure of
process nor an impugning of the efficacy of the Nomcom.
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If all of the candidates are confirmed, the job of the Nomcom with
respect to those open positions is complete.
If one or more of the candidates submitted to a confirming body fails
of confirmation, the confirming bodies are required only to
communicate that fact to the Nomcom. A confirming body MAY, at its
sole discretion, provide additional information on why the candidate
failed and that should consist only of consensus opinions of the
confirming body and not opinions of individual confirming body
members. At no time should this process be allowed to devolve into a
negotiation between the confirming body and the Nomcom for the
selection of specific individuals.
The confirming body confirms individual candidates, not a slate of
candidates. If a candidate is rejected, the Nomcom may only select
an alternate candidate for that position, it MAY NOT attempt to
withdraw other candidates previously submitted to the confirming body
from consideration or attempt to void a confirmation.
Any additional time required by the Nomcom should not exceed its
maximum time allotment.
3.8.4. Confirmation
A confirming body decides whether it confirms each candidate using a
confirmation decision rule chosen by the confirming body.
If a confirming body has no specific confirmation decision rule, then
confirming a given candidate should require at least one-half of the
confirming body's sitting members to agree to that confirmation.
The decision may be made by conducting a formal vote, by asserting
consensus based on informal exchanges (e.g., email), or by any other
mechanism that is used to conduct the normal business of the
confirming body.
Regardless of which decision rule the confirming body uses, any
candidate that is not confirmed under that rule is considered to be
rejected.
The confirming body must make its decision on any given candidate
within 4 weeks of notification of the candidacy. Failure to act
within that time shall be considered a rejection of that candidate.
The results from the confirming body must be reported promptly to the
Nomcom.
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3.8.5. Announcements
All announcements must be made using at least the mechanism used by
the IETF Secretariat for its announcements, including a notice on the
IETF web site.
As of the publication of this document, the current mechanism is an
email message to both the "ietf" and the "ietf-announce" mailing
lists.
4. Nomcom Selection
The following set of rules apply to the creation of the nominating
committee and the selection of its members.
4.1. Organization Timeline
The completion of the process of selecting and organizing the members
of the Nomcom is due within 3 months.
The completion of the selection and organization process is due at
least one month prior to the beginning of the Third IETF. This
ensures the Nomcom is fully operational and available for interviews
and consultation during the Third IETF.
4.2. Nomcom Term
The term of a Nomcom is expected to be 15 months.
It is the intent of this rule that the end of a nominating
committee's term will overlap the beginning of the term of the next
Nomcom by approximately three months.
The term of a Nomcom begins when its members are officially
announced. The term ends at the end of the Third IETF (not three
meetings), i.e., the IETF meeting after the next nominating
committee's term begins.
A term is expected to begin at least two months prior to the Third
IETF to ensure the Nomcom has at least one month to get organized
before preparing for the Third IETF.
A Nomcom is expected to complete any work-in- progress before it is
dissolved at the end of its term.
During the period of time that the terms of the nominating committees
overlap, all mid-term vacancies are to be relegated to the prior
year's Nomcom. The prior year's Nomcom has no other responsibilities
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during the overlap period. At all times other than the overlap
period there is exactly one official Nomcom and it is responsible for
all mid-term vacancies.
When the prior year's Nomcom is filling a mid-term vacancy during the
period of time that the terms overlap, the Nomcoms operate
independently. However, some coordination is needed between them.
Since the prior year's Chair is a non-voting advisor to the current
Nomcom the coordination is expected to be straightforward.
4.3. Composition
The Nomcom comprises at least a Chair, 10 voting volunteers, 3
liaisons, and an advisor.
Any committee member may propose the addition of an advisor to
participate in some or all of the deliberations of the committee.
The addition must be approved by the committee according to its
established voting mechanism. Advisors participate as individuals.
Any committee member may propose the addition of a liaison from other
unrepresented organizations to participate in some or all of the
deliberations of the committee. The addition must be approved by the
committee according to its established voting mechanism. Liaisons
participate as representatives of their respective organizations.
The Chair is selected according to rules stated elsewhere in this
document.
The 10 voting volunteers are selected according to rules stated
elsewhere in this document.
The IESG, IAOC and IAB liaisons are selected according to rules
stated elsewhere in this document.
The Internet Society Board of Trustees may appoint a liaison to the
Nomcom at its own discretion.
The Chair of last year's Nomcom serves as an advisor according to
rules stated elsewhere in this document.
None of the Chair, liaisons, or advisors vote on the selection of
candidates. They do vote on all other issues before the committee
unless otherwise specified in this document.
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4.4. Chair
The Chair of the Nomcom is responsible for ensuring the Nomcom
completes its assigned duties in a timely fashion and performs in the
best interests of the IETF community.
The Chair must be thoroughly familiar with the rules and guidance
indicated throughout this document. The Chair must ensure the Nomcom
completes its assigned duties in a manner that is consistent with
this document.
The Chair must attest by proclamation at a plenary session of the
First IETF that the results of the committee represent its best
effort and the best interests of the IETF community.
The Chair does not vote on the selection of candidates.
4.5. Appointment of Chair
The Internet Society President appoints the Chair, who must meet the
same requirements for membership in the Nomcom as a voting volunteer.
The Nomcom Chair must agree to invest the time necessary to ensure
that the Nomcom completes its assigned duties and to perform in the
best interests of the IETF community in that role.
The appointment is due no later than the Second IETF meeting to
ensure it can be announced during a plenary session at that meeting.
The completion of the appointment is necessary to ensure the annual
process can complete at the time specified elsewhere in this
document.
4.6. Chair Substitution
A Chair, in consultation with the Internet Society President, may
appoint a temporary substitute for the Chair position.
There are a variety of ordinary circumstances that may arise from
time to time that could result in a Chair being unavailable to
oversee the activities of the committee. The Chair, in consultation
with the Internet Society President, may appoint a substitute from a
pool comprised of the liaisons currently serving on the committee and
the Past Chair or designee.
Any such appointment must be temporary and does not absolve the Chair
of any or all responsibility for ensuring the nominating committee
completes its assigned duties in a timely fashion.
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4.7. Liaisons
Liaisons are responsible for ensuring the Nomcom in general and the
Chair in particular execute their assigned duties in the best
interests of the IETF community. They are, in the final analysis,
the primary guardians of the process.
Liaisons are expected to represent the views of their respective
organizations during the deliberations of the committee. They should
provide information as requested or when they believe it would be
helpful to the committee. However, they must protect the
confidentiality of deliberations of their respective organizations
with respect to any interactions they have with the Nomcom.
Liaisons from the IESG, IAOC and IAB are expected to provide
information to the Nomcom regarding the operation, responsibility,
and composition of their respective bodies.
Liaisons are expected to convey questions from the committee to their
respective organizations and responses to those questions to the
committee, as requested by the committee.
Liaisons from the IESG, IAB, IAOC, and Internet Society Board of
Trustees (if one was appointed) are expected to review the operation
and executing process of the Nomcom and to report any concerns or
issues to the Chair of the nominating committee immediately. If they
can not resolve the issue between themselves, liaisons must report it
according to the dispute resolution process stated elsewhere in this
document.
Liaisons from confirming bodies are expected to assist the committee
in preparing the confirmation package it is required to provide with
its candidates.
Liaisons may have other Nomcom responsibilities as required by their
respective organizations or requested by the Nomcom, except that such
responsibilities may not conflict with any other provisions of this
document.
Liaisons do not vote on the selection of candidates, nor are they
permitted to vote in the confirmation process within their respective
organization.
4.8. Body Liaisons
The sitting IAB, IESG, and IAOC members each appoint a liaison from
their current membership to serve on the Nomcom. This must be
someone who is not sitting in an open position.
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4.9. Advisors
An advisor is responsible for such duties as specified by the
invitation that resulted in the appointment.
Advisors do not vote on the selection of candidates.
4.10. Past Chair Role
The Chair of the prior year's Nomcom or their designee serves as an
advisor to the current committee. For the purposes of this document,
that person is known as the "Past Chair".
The Past Chair is expected to review the actions and activities of
the current Chair and to report any concerns or issues to the Nomcom
Chair immediately. If they can not resolve the issue between
themselves, the prior year's Chair must report it according to the
dispute resolution process stated elsewhere in this document.
If the Chair of the prior year's Nomcom is unable or unwilling to
serve as Past Chair, he or she may select a alternate to serve as
Past Chair from a pool composed of the voting volunteers of the prior
year's committee and all prior Nomcom Chairs. If the prior year's
Chair is unavailable or is unable or is unwilling to make such a
designation in a timely fashion, the Internet Society President
shall, in consultation with the current Nomcom chair, select an
alternate Past Chair from the pool described above.
Selecting a prior year's committee member as the designee permits the
experience of the prior year's deliberations to be readily available
to the current committee. Selecting an earlier prior year Chair as
the designee permits the experience of being a Chair as well as that
Chair's committee deliberations to be readily available to the
current committee.
4.11. Voting Members
Voting volunteers are responsible for completing the tasks of the
Nomcom in a timely fashion.
Each voting volunteer is expected to participate in all activities of
the Nomcom with a level of effort approximately equal to all other
voting volunteers. Specific tasks to be completed are established
and managed by the Chair according to rules stated elsewhere in this
document.
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4.12. Milestone Establishment
The Chair must establish and announce milestones for the selection of
the Nomcom members.
There is a defined time period during which the selection process is
due to 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.
4.13. Position Solicitation
The Chair obtains the list of IESG, IAOC and IAB positions to be
reviewed and announces it along with a solicitation for names of
volunteers from the IETF community willing to serve on the Nomcom.
The solicitation must permit the community at least 30 days during
which they may choose to volunteer to be selected for the Nomcom.
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 Nomcom.
4.14. Volunteer Qualifications
Members of the IETF community must have attended at least 3 of the
last 5 IETF meetings in order to volunteer.
The 5 meetings are the five most recent meetings that ended prior to
the date on which the solicitation for Nomcom volunteers was
submitted for distribution to the IETF community.
The IETF Secretariat is responsible for confirming that volunteers
have met the attendance requirement.
Volunteers must provide their full name, email address, and primary
company or organization affiliation (if any) when volunteering.
Volunteers are expected to be familiar with the IETF processes and
procedures, which are readily learned by active participation in a
working group and especially by serving as a document editor or
working group chair.
4.15. Volunteer Disqualifications
Members of the Internet Society Board of Trustees, sitting members of
the IAB,sitting members of the IAOC, sitting members of the IESG and
the IETF chair may not volunteer to serve on the Nomcom.
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4.16. Announcement of Volunteers
The Chair announces both the list of the pool of volunteers from
which the 10 voting volunteers will be randomly selected and the
method with which the selection will be completed.
The announcement should be made at least 1 week prior to the date on
which the random selection will occur.
The pool of volunteers must be enumerated or otherwise indicated
according to the needs of the selection method to be used.
The announcement must specify the data that will be used as input to
the selection method. The method must depend on random data whose
value is not known or available until the date on which the random
selection will occur.
It must be possible to independently verify that the selection method
used is both fair and unbiased. A method is fair if each number in
the stream of numbers used to select volunteers is equally likely to
be selected. A method is unbiased if no one can influence its
outcome in favor of a specific outcome.
It must be possible to repeat the selection method, either through
iteration or by restarting in such a way as to remain fair and
unbiased. This is necessary to replace selected volunteers should
they become unavailable after selection.
The selection method must produce an ordered list of volunteers.
One possible selection method for pool numbers is described in RFC
2777 [1].
4.17. Selection Process
The Chair randomly selects the 10 voting volunteers from the pool of
names of volunteers and announces the members of the Nomcom.
No more than two volunteers with the same primary affiliation may be
selected for the Nomcom. The Chair reviews the primary affiliation
of each volunteer selected by the method in turn. If the primary
affiliation for a volunteer is the same as two previously selected
volunteers, that volunteer is removed from consideration and the
method is repeated to identify the next eligible volunteer.
There must be at least two announcements of all members of the
Nomcom.
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The first announcement should occur as soon after the random
selection as is reasonable for the Chair. The community must have at
least 1 week during which any member may challenge the results of the
random selection. The challenge must be made in writing (email is
acceptable) to the Chair. The Chair has 48 hours to review the
challenge and offer a resolution to the member. If the resolution is
not accepted by the member, that member may report the challenge
according to the dispute resolution process stated elsewhere in this
document.
If a selected volunteer, upon reading the announcement with the list
of selected volunteers, finds that two or more other volunteers have
the same affiliation, then the volunteer should notify the Chair who
will determine the appropriate action.
During at least the 1 week challenge period the Chair must contact
each of the members and confirm their willingness and availability to
serve. The Chair should make every reasonable effort to contact each
member.
o If the Chair is unable to contact a liaison the problem is
referred to the respective organization to resolve. The Chair
should allow a reasonable amount of time for the organization to
resolve the problem and then may proceed without the liaison.
o If the Chair is unable to contact an advisor the Chair may elect
to proceed without the advisor, except for the prior year's Chair
for whom the Chair must consult with the Internet Society
President as stated elsewhere in this document.
o If the Chair is unable to contact a voting volunteer the Chair
must repeat the random selection process in order to replace the
unavailable volunteer. There should be at least 1 day between the
announcement of the iteration and the selection process.
After at least 1 week and confirming that 10 voting volunteers are
ready to serve, the Chair makes the second announcement of the
members of the Nomcom, which officially begins the term of the
Nomcom.
4.18. Final Organization Actions
The Chair works with the members of the committee to organize itself
in preparation for completing its assigned duties.
The committee has approximately one month during which it can self-
organize. Its responsibilities during this time include but are not
limited to the following.
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o Setting up a regular teleconference schedule.
o Setting up an internal web site.
o Setting up a mailing list for internal discussions.
o Setting up an email address for receiving community input.
o Establishing operational procedures.
o Establishing milestones in order to monitor the progress of the
selection process.
5. Nomcom 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.
5.1. Committee Discretion
All rules and special circumstances not otherwise specified are at
the discretion of the committee.
Exceptional circumstances will occasionally arise during the normal
operation of the Nomcom. This rule is intended to foster the
continued forward progress of the committee.
Any member of the committee may propose a rule for adoption by the
committee. The rule must be approved by the committee according to
its established voting mechanism.
All members of the committee should consider whether the exception is
worthy of mention in the next revision of this document and follow-up
accordingly.
5.2. Nomination Deadlines
The completion of the process of selecting candidates to be confirmed
by their respective confirming body is due within 3 months.
The completion of the selection process is due at least two month's
prior to the First IETF. This ensures the nominating committee has
sufficient time to complete the confirmation process.
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5.3. Confirmation Deadlines
The completion of the process of confirming the candidates is due
within 1 month.
The completion of the confirmation process is due at least one month
prior to the First IETF.
5.4. Milestone Establishment
The Chair must establish for the Nomcom a set of milestones for the
candidate selection and confirmation process.
There is a defined time period during which the candidate 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 Chair should ensure that all committee members are aware of the
milestones.
5.5. Voting Mechanism
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 Nomcom.
5.6. Quorum
At least a quorum of committee members must participate in a vote.
Only voting volunteers vote on a candidate selection. For a
candidate selection vote a quorum is comprised of at least 7 of the
voting volunteers.
At all other times a quorum is present if at least 75% of the Nomcom
members are participating.
5.7. Nomcom Member Expulsion
Any member of the Nomcom may propose to the committee that any other
member except the Chair be expelled. The process for expellng the
Chair is defined elsewhere in this document.
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There are a variety of ordinary circumstances that may arise that
could result in one or more members of the committee being
unavailable to complete their assigned duties, for example health
concerns, family issues, or a change of priorities at work. A
committee member may choose to resign for unspecified personal
reasons. In addition, the committee may not function well as a group
because a member may be disruptive or otherwise uncooperative.
Regardless of the circumstances, if individual committee members can
not work out their differences between themselves, the entire
committee may be called upon to discuss and review the circumstances.
If a resolution is not forthcoming a vote may be conducted. A member
may be expelled if at least 3/4ths of all committee members,
including liaisons, agree. The the member proposed for expulsion may
vote.
If a liaison member is expelled the committee must notify the
affected organization and must allow a reasonable amount of time for
a replacement to be identified by the organization before proceeding.
If an advisor member other than the Past Chair is expelled, the
committee may choose to proceed without the advisor. In the case of
the Past Chair, the Internet Society President must be notified and
the current Chair must be allowed a reasonable amount of time to
consult with the Internet Society President to identify a replacement
before proceeding.
If a single voting volunteer position on the Nomcom is vacated,
regardless of the circumstances, the committee may choose to proceed
with only 9 voting volunteers at its own discretion. In all other
cases a new voting member must be selected, and the Chair must repeat
the random selection process including an announcement of the
iteration prior to the actual selection as stated elsewhere in this
document.
A change in the primary affiliation of a voting volunteer during the
term of the Nomcom is not a cause to request the expulsion of that
volunteer, even if the change would result in more than two voting
volunteers with the same affiliation.
5.8. Expulsion of the Nomcom Chair
Only the Past Chair may request the expulsion of the current Chair.
It is the responsibility of the Past Chair to ensure the current
Chair completes the assigned tasks in a manner consistent with this
document and in the best interests of the IETF community.
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Any member of the committee who has an issue or concern regarding the
Chair should report it to the Past Chair immediately. The Past Chair
is expected to report it to the Chair immediately. If they can not
resolve the issue between themselves, the Past Chair must report it
according to the dispute resolution process stated elsewhere in this
document.
5.9. Right to Participate
All members of the Nomcom may participate in all deliberations.
The emphasis of this rule is that no member can be explicitly
excluded from any deliberation. However, a member may individually
choose not to participate in a deliberation.
5.10. Call for Nominees
The Chair announces the open positions to be reviewed, the desired
expertise provided by the IETF Executive Director, 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 Nomcom.
The call must request that a nomination include a valid, working
email address, a telephone number, or both for the nominee. The
nomination must include the set of skills or expertise the nominator
believes the nominee has that would be desirable.
5.11. Nominations
Any member of the IETF community may nominate any member of the IETF
community for any open position, whose eligibility to serve will be
confirmed by the Nomcom.
A self-nomination is permitted.
Nomcom members are not eligible to be considered for filling any open
position by the Nomcom on which they serve. They become ineligible
as soon as the term of the Nomcom on which they serve officially
begins. They remain ineligible for any nominations from the Nomcom
on which they serve.
Although each Nomcom's term overlaps with the following Nomcom's
term, Nomcom members are eligible for nomination by the other
committee if not otherwise disqualified.
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Members of the IETF community who were recalled from any IESG, IAOC
or IAB position during the previous two years are not eligible to be
considered for filling any open position. Expelled members remain
eligible.
5.12. Selection Criteria
The Nomcom 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. In particular, the nominating committee must
determine if the desired expertise for the open positions matches its
understanding of the qualifications desired by the IETF community.
The consultations are permitted to include names of nominees, if all
parties to the consultation agree to observe the same confidentiality
rules as the Nomcom itself.
A broad base of the community should include the existing members of
the IAB, IAOC and IESG, especially sitting members who share
responsibilities with open positions, e.g., co-Area Directors, and
working group chairs, especially those in the areas with open
positions.
Only voting volunteer members vote to select candidates.
5.13. Nominee Notification
Nominees should be advised that they are being considered and must
consent to their nomination prior to being chosen as candidates.
Although the Nomcom will make every reasonable effort to contact and
to remain in contact with nominees, any nominee whose contact
information changes during the process and who wishes to still be
considered should inform the nominating committee of the changes.
A nominee's consent must be written (email is acceptable) and must
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.
Consenting to a nomination must occur prior to a nominee being a
candidate and may occur as soon after the nomination as needed by the
Nomcom.
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Consenting to a nomination must not imply the nominee will be a
candidate.
The Nomcom should help nominees provide justification to their
employers.
5.14. Submission for Confirmation
The Nomcom advises the confirming bodies of the candidates for
confirmation, specifying a single candidate for each open position.
It transmits to the confirming bodies the list of material described
in Section 3.8.2 above for each candidate and open position.
5.15. Notification of Confirmed Candidates
Confirmed candidates must consent to their confirmation. All other
nominees must be notified before confirmed candidates are announced.
It is not necessary to notify and get consent from all confirmed
candidates together.
A nominee may not know they were a candidate. This permits a
candidate to be rejected by a confirming body without the nominee
knowing about the rejection.
Rejected nominees, who consented to their nomination, and rejected
candidates must be notified prior to announcing the confirmed
candidates.
It is not necessary to announce all confirmed candidates together.
The Nomcom must ensure that all confirmed candidates are prepared to
serve prior to announcing their confirmation.
5.16. Record Keeping
The Nomcom should archive the information it has collected or
produced for a period of time not to exceed its term.
The purpose of the archive is to assist the Nomcom should it be
necessary for it to fill a mid-term vacancy.
The existence of an archive, how it is implemented, and what
information to archive is at the discretion of the committee. The
decision must be approved by a quorum of the voting volunteer
members.
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The implementation of the archive should make every reasonable effort
to ensure that the confidentiality of the information it contains is
maintained.
6. Vacancies
Vacancies may occur in one of 5 ways: term expiration, resignation,
death or incapacity, recall or expulsion.
6.1. Term Expiration
A position becomes vacant at the end of the term of the incumbent if
that position has not been filled by action of the Nomcom and the
appropriate confirming body. There is no "holding over in office".
6.2. Resignation
A member of any body covered by these rules may resign their position
by written notice (email is acceptable) to the chair of their body
and the IETF Executive Director.
A resignation may be effective on submission, post-dated not later
than 90 days, or conditional. A conditional resignation is generally
of the form "effective with the appointment of my replacement[, or
not later than "date"]". Once proffered, a resignation may not be
withdrawn unilaterally once the notification of vacancy has been
provided to the Nomcom. However, the appropriate Nomcom MAY choose
to reappoint the member if the member so requests and it is in the
best interests of the IETF.
6.3. Death or Incapacity
A position shall be considered vacant upon notification of the death
of a member to the Executive Director once appropriate confirmation
has been made.
A notification of incapacity may occur from the member or member's
representative (e.g. spouse, friend) and shall be considered the same
as a resignation as above and requires no further confirmation
assuming such relationship is known to be valid.
A notification of incapacity may also occur from the member's body if
the member fails to participate in the body's deliberations for 90
days or more. Upon receipt of the notification, the Executive
Director shall attempt to contact the member and verify the
incapacity. If the member disclaims the incapacity within 14 days of
being contacted, the position shall not be considered vacant,
otherwise it shall be considered vacant 14 days after such
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notification. [Notification to be by registered mail? Or
international equivalent with clock starting to tick upon delivery]
6.4. Recall
Recall is a process initiated by the community as a whole. A recall
process begins upon submission of a recall petition identifying the
person to be recalled, the reasons for the recall and "signed" by at
least three persons currently eligible for Nomcom. The petition must
be emailed to the IETF Executive Director.
A recall petition is considered to be submitted upon the receipt by
the Executive Director of a total of 20 additional "signatures" by
Nomcom eligible persons (for a total of 23 signatures).
In the context of a recall, "signed", "signing" and "signature" shall
be an indication by electronic mail to the Executive Director of
agreement with the petition.
The chair of the recall committee shall be the most recent chair of
the Nomcom who isn't currently serving on a Nomcom (e.g. as Past
Chair or voting member) and who agrees to serve. If no previous
chair is available or consents to serve, then the ISOC chair shall
appoint one. This must be done within 3 days of the initiation of
the recall process.
Liaisons to the recall committee are the chair of the body of the
member being recalled, or one of the most senior members if the chair
is being recalled (the latter selected by the committee); and the
chair of the Nomcom that appointed the member or the chair's
designee. Selection of the liaisons must be done within 3 days of
the petition being submitted.
The recallee must be offered the opportunity to appoint a liaison to
the recall committee who is there solely to protect the recallee's
rights.
The liaisons (excluding the recallee's liasion if any) and chair are
responsible for tallying any vote.
There are between 9 and 12 voting members on the recall committee
selected from the most recently constitutied Nomcom volunteer list in
the same manner as the nomcom is chosen with the following
modifications:
a. 16 members shall be selected by random method from those
volunteers who were not selected from that list,
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b. The same stocks and or methods as were used to choose the current
Nomcom shall be used to generate random numbers. The date used
for the stocks or info source shall be the next business day
after the petition is submitted.
c. The list of potential members for the recall committee shall be
determined and published the next day by COB in the order in
which they are selected.
d. After 48 hours from publication, if 12 members have consented,
then the first 12 members on the list shall be considered the
recall committee. Otherwise, the first 12 members that consent
after 48 hours shall be considered the recall committee. If
after 96 hours there are at least 9 members consenting but not
12, then the committee shall be formed from those consenting.
The date and time of consent shall be measured from receipt by
the Executive Director's MTA.
The recall committee may consist of up to 3 members from an
organization.
Members who were eligible to serve on the Nomcom remain eligible to
serve on a recall committee formed during that Nomcom's term.
Recall petitions are public. No one is excluded from signing a
recall petition on the basis of position. The 3-of-5 meetings basis
applies to the qualification to sign the petition.
A recall is confirmed if 2/3 of the voting members of the recall
committee vote in the affirmative. A vote must be taken if 1/2 of
the voting members request it. A recall fails if 2/3s of the voting
member vote in the negative, or if no decision has been arrived at 7
(14?) days from the committee being appointed.
Deliberations are private. Period. Votes are secret. Period.
Petition signatures are valid for 30 days from the first signature.
If 20 signatures are not received in 30 days, the petition fails and
may not be resubmitted for 90 days for that member in any capacity.
6.5. Expulsion
With the exception of the Chair of the IETF, any member of a body
covered by this document may be proposed to be expelled by that body
upon a 2/3 vote of the formal members of that body (e.g. for the
IESG, all of the area directors including the IETF chair, for the
other bodies all but the liaisons) excepting the member being
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expelled, and with the expulsion confirmed by a 2/3 vote of the
appropriate confirming body.
The body proposing the expulsion shall send a note to the confirming
body explaining its reasons for the expulsion. The member being
proposed for expulsion shall have access to that statement and shall
be allowed to submit a statement explaining why the expulsion should
not be sustained. The member shall have 3 business days after
receipt of the explusion statement to submit their statement.
The confirming body shall complete their deliberations within one
calendar week of receiving the expulsion statement and response. If
the confirming body does not vote to confirm the expulsion by the end
of this deadline, the expulsion shall not be sustained.
The contents of the statement on the reasons for expulsion shall be
held confidential by both bodies. However, the member being proposed
for expulsion in their sole discretion, MAY make their statement
public.
Deliberations and votes by both bodies shall be private (and among
only the members voting) and only the fact of a successful vote yea
or nay shall be reported publicly. The number of votes for or
against shall not be reported.
The Chair of the IETF may not be removed by expulsion.
Discussion points: The general model for expulsion is that its used
by a body to exclude a member who has proven disruptive to that body.
Most expulsion models only require a single vote by the expelling
body. That may be more appropriate than the two step model proposed
above.
6.6. Replacements
In the case of a recall or expulsion the Nomcom MAY begin prospective
action to fill the seat in the form of advertising for the position
and setting deadlines. NO actual deliberation on candidates shall be
done unless and until the position is actually vacant. For a recall,
this process may begin with a valid submitted recall petition; for an
expulsion, this process may begin upon a successful vote proposing
the expulsion.
6.7. Temporary Appointments
In the event a vacancy in either the IAOC or IESG extends past the
time allotted for its replacement, the chair of the respective body
may appoint an IETF participant to fill that position on an acting
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basis until the Nomcom process has completed. Such appointment
requires the unanimous consent of the chairs of the IAOC, IETF and
IAB.
As noted elsewhere, the time alloted to fill normal vacancies is the
end of the First IETF, and for mid-term vacancies, 6 weeks from the
vacancy.
In the event of a vacancy in the IETF chair position that extends
past the above dates, the ISOC chair shall ask one of the most senior
Area Directors to act as Chair until the Nomcom process completes.
Temporary appointments shall not be made to the IAB.
An acting member of the IAOC shall not be considered a member of the
IETF Trust Board of Trustees due to their acting status.
7. Dispute Resolution Process
The dispute resolution process described here is to be used as
indicated elsewhere in this document. Its applicability in other
circumstances is beyond the scope of this document.
The Nomcom operates under a strict rule of confidentiality. For this
reason when process issues arise it is best to make every reasonable
effort to resolve them within the committee. However, when
circumstances do not permit this or no resolution is forthcoming, the
process described here is to be used.
The following rules apply to the process.
1. The results of this process are final and binding. There is no
appeal.
2. The process begins with the submission of a request as described
below to the Internet Society President.
3. As soon as the process begins, the Nomcom may continue those
activities that are unrelated to the issue to be resolved except
that it must not submit any candidates to a confirming body until
the issue is resolved.
4. All parties to the process are subject to the same
confidentiality rules as each member of the Nomcom.
5. The process should be completed within two weeks.
The process is as follows:
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1. The party seeking resolution submits a written request (email is
acceptable) to the Internet Society President detailing the
issue to be resolved.
2. The Internet Society President appoints an arbiter to
investigate and resolve the issue. A self-appointment is
permitted.
3. The arbiter investigates the issue making every reasonable
effort to understand both sides of the issue. Since the arbiter
is subject to the same confidentiality obligations as all
nominating committee members, all members are expected to
cooperate fully with the arbiter and to provide all relevant
information to the arbiter for review.
4. ALTERNATE PROPOSAL
5. Each party to the arbitration selects an arbiter. The two
arbiters jointly select a third person to act as mediator and to
chair the effort.
6. After consutation with the two principal parties to the issue,
the arbiters and mediator decide on a resolution by majority
vote. Whatever actions are necessary to execute the resolution
are immediately begun and completed as quickly as possible.
7. END ALTERNATE PROPOSAL - substitute "mediator" for arbiter below
8. After consultation with the two principal parties to the issue,
the arbiter decides on a resolution. Whatever actions are
necessary to execute the resolution are immediately begun and
completed as quickly as possible.
9. The arbiter summarizes the issue, the resolution, and the
rationale for the resolution for the Internet Society President.
10. In consultation with the Internet Society President, the arbiter
prepares a report of the dispute and its resolution. The report
should include all information that in the judgment of the
arbiter does not violate the confidentiality requirements of the
Nomcom.
11. The Chair includes the dispute report when reporting on the
activities of the Nomcom to the IETF community.
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8. Changes from RFC 2727
This section describes the substantive changes from RFC 2727, listed
approximately in the order in which they appear in the document.
1. A section with definitions for words and phrases used throughout
the document was inserted.
2. The role of term limits as a selection criterion was clarified.
3. The Nomcom must now be provided with a brief description of the
desirable expertise for each candidate to be nominated for each
position.
4. Because of the overlapping terms of successive nominating
committees, the specific committee responsible for a mid-term
vacancy was specified.
5. The characterization of the advice and consent model was revised
to permit the confirming body to communicate with the nominating
committee during the approval process.
6. A general rule was added to define that all announcements are
made with the usual IETF Secretariat mechanism.
7. Details regarding the expected timeline of the selection and
operation of the committee were made even more explicit. An
Section was added that captures all the details for the
convenience of the reader.
8. The term of the Nomcom was extended to approximately 15 months
such that it explicitly overlaps by approximately 3 months the
next year's Nomcom's term.
9. The terms voting member and non-voting member were replaced by
voting volunteers, liaisons, and advisors. All members vote at
all times except that only voting volunteers vote on a candidate
selection.
10. The responsibilities of the Chair, liaisons, advisors, and
voting volunteers is now explicitly stated.
11. Processes for recalling members of the committee were added.
12. Liaisons and advisors are no longer required to meet the usual
requirements for Nomcom membership.
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13. The Internet Society Board of Trustees may appoint a non-voting
liaison.
14. The eligibility qualifications for the Nomcom were changed to
require attendance at 3 out of 5 of the last five meetings, to
require volunteers to submit identifying contact information,
and to request that volunteers be familiar with IETF processes
and procedures.
15. Some additional clarification was added to the method used to
select volunteers.
16. The process for selecting the 10 voting volunteers had several
clarifications and additional requirements added, including a
challenge process and the requirement to disallow more than two
volunteers with the same primary affiliation.
17. Nominations for open positions should include both contact
information and a description of the skills or expertise the
nominator believes the nominee possesses.
18. Nominees are requested to keep the Nomcom informed of changes in
their contact information. Editorially, the distinction between
a nominee and candidate was emphasized.
19. A description of a testimony to be provided with each candidate
to a confirming body by the Nomcom is specified.
20. The rules regarding the announcement of confirmed candidates
were substantially rewritten to make it easier to understand.
21. The Nomcom is permitted to keep an archive for the duration of
its term of the information it collects and produces for its own
internal use.
22. A dispute resolution process for addressing process concerns was
added.
23. The process for recalling a sitting member of the IAB and IESG
requires at least 20 eligible members of the IETF community to
sign a petition requesting the recall.
24. The section on Security Considerations was expanded.
25. Section A, Oral Tradition, has been added.
26. Section B, Nomcom Timeline, has been added as a convenience to
the reader.
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9. Acknowledgements
There have been a number of people involved with the development of
this document over the years as it has progressed from RFC 2027
through RFC 2282 [3] and RFC 2727 [2] to its current version.
A great deal of credit goes to the first three Nomcom Chairs:
1993 Jeff Case
1994 Fred Baker
1995 John Curran
who had the pleasure of operating without the benefit of a documented
process. It was their fine work and oral tradition that became the
first version of this document.
Of course we can not overlook the bug discovery burden that each of
the Chairs since the first publication have had to endure:
1996 Guy Almes
1997 Geoff Huston
1998 Mike StJohns
1999 Donald Eastlake
2000 Avri Doria
2001 Bernard Aboba
2002 Ted T'so
2003 Phil Roberts
The bulk of the early credit goes to the members of the POISSON
Working Group, previously the POISED Working Group. The prose here
would not be what it is were it not for the attentive and insightful
review of its members. Specific acknowledgement must be extended to
Scott Bradner and John Klensin, who consistently contributed to the
improvement of the first three versions of this document.
In January 2002, a new working group was formed, the Nominating
Committee Working Group (nomcom), to revise the RFC 2727 version.
This working group was guided by the efforts of a design team whose
members were as follows:
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Bernard Adoba
Harald Alvestrand - Chair of the IETF
Leslie Daigle - Chair of the IAB
Avri Doria - Chair of the Working Group
James Galvin - Editor of the Document
Joel Halpern
Thomas Narten
10. 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
must maintain the confidentiality of any and all information not
explicitly identified as suitable for public dissemination.
When the Nomcom decides it is necessary to share confidential or
otherwise private information with others, the dissemination must be
minimal and must include a prior commitment from all persons
consulted to observe the same confidentiality rules as the Nomcom
itself.
11. References
11.1. Normative References
[RFC2119] Bradner, S., "Key words for use in RFCs to Indicate
Requirement Levels", BCP 14, RFC 2119, March 1997.
11.2. Informative References
[RFC3777] Galvin, J., "IAB and IESG Selection, Confirmation, and
Recall Process: Operation of the Nominating and Recall
Committees", BCP 10, RFC 3777, June 2004.
[RFC3797] Eastlake, D., "Publicly Verifiable Nominations Committee
(NomCom) Random Selection", RFC 3797, June 2004.
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[RFC5078] Dawkins, S., "IAB and IESG Selection, Confirmation, and
Recall Process: Revision of the Nominating and Recall
Committees Timeline", RFC 5078, October 2007.
[RFC6859] Leiba, B., "Update to RFC 3777 to Clarify Nominating
Committee Eligibility of IETF Leadership", BCP 10, RFC
6859, January 2013.
Appendix A. Oral Tradition
Over the years various Nomcoms have learned through oral tradition
passed on by liaisons that there are certain consistencies in the
process and information considered during deliberations. Some items
from that oral tradition are collected here to facilitate its
consideration by future Nomcoms.
1. It has been found that experience as an IETF Working Group Chair
or an IRTF Research Group Chair is helpful in giving a nominee
experience of what the job of an Area Director involves. It also
helps a Nomcom judge the technical, people, and process
management skills of the nominee.
2. No person should serve both on the IAB and as an Area Director,
except the IETF Chair whose roles as an IAB member and Area
Director of the General Area are set out elsewhere.
3. The strength of the IAB is found in part in the balance of the
demographics of its members (e.g., national distribution, years
of experience, gender, etc.), the combined skill set of its
members, and the combined sectors (e.g., industry, academia,
etc.) represented by its members.
4. There are no term limits explicitly because the issue of
continuity versus turnover should be evaluated each year
according to the expectations of the IETF community, as it is
understood by each Nomcom.
5. The number of Nomcom members with the same primary affiliation is
limited in order to avoid the appearance of improper bias in
choosing the leadership of the IETF. Rather than defining
precise rules for how to define "affiliation", the IETF community
depends on the honor and integrity of the participants to make
the process work.
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Appendix B. Nomcom Timeline
This section is included for the convenience of the reader and is not
to be interpreted as the definitive timeline. It is intended to
capture the detail described elsewhere in this document in one place.
Although every effort has been made to ensure the description here is
consistent with the description elsewhere, if there are any conflicts
the definitive rule is the one in the main body of this document.
The only absolute in the timeline rules for the annual process is
that its completion is due by the First IETF of the year after the
Nomcom begins its term. This is supported by the fact that the
confirmed candidate terms begin during the week of the First IETF.
The overall annual process is designed to be completed in 7 months.
It is expected to start 8 months prior to the First IETF. The 7
months is split between three major components of the process as
follows.
1. First is the selection and organization of the committee members.
Three months are allotted for this process.
2. Second is the selection of the candidates by the nominating
committee. Three months are allotted for this process.
3. Third is the confirmation of the candidates by their respective
confirming bodies. One month is allotted for this process.
The following figure captures the details of the milestones within
each component. For illustrative purposes the figure presumes the
Friday before the First IETF is March 1.
1. BEGIN 8 Months Prior to First IETF (approx. July 1); Internet
Society President appoints the Chair. The appointment must be
done no later than the Second IETF or 8 months prior to the First
IETF, whichever comes first. The Chair must be announced and
recognized during a plenary session of the Second IETF.
2. The Chair establishes and announces milestones to ensure the
timely selection of the Nomcom members.
3. The Chair contacts the IESG, IAB, and Internet Society Board of
Trustees and requests a liaison. The Chair contacts the prior
year's Chair and requests an advisor. The Chair obtains the list
of IESG and IAB open positions and descriptions from the IETF
Executive Director.
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4. The Chair announces the solicitation for voting volunteer members
that must remain open for at least 30 days. The announcement
must be done no later than 7 months and 2 weeks prior to the
First IETF (approx. July 15).
5. After the solicitation closes the Chair announces the pool of
volunteers and the date of the random selection, which must be at
least 1 week in the future. The announcement must be done no
later than 6 months and 2 weeks prior to the First IETF (approx.
August 15).
6. On the appointed day the random selection occurs and the Chair
announces the members of the committee and the 1 week challenge
period. The announcement must be done no later than 6 months and
1 week prior to the First IETF (approx. August 22).
7. During the challenge period the Chair contacts each of the
committee members and confirms their availability to participate.
8. After the challenge period closes the Chair announces the members
of the committee and its term begins. The announcement must be
done no later than 6 months prior to the First IETF (approx.
September 1).
9. The committee has one month during which it is to self-organize
in preparation for completing its assigned duties. This must be
done no later than 5 months prior to the First IETF (approx.
October 1).
1. the Committee Member Selection Process; BEGIN the Selection of
Candidates; Time is at least 5 months prior to the First IETF
(approx. October 1).
2. The Chair establishes and announces the milestones to ensure the
timely selection of the candidates, including a call for
nominations for the open positions. The announcement must be
done no later than 5 months prior to the First IETF (approx.
October 1).
3. Over the next 3 months the Nomcom collects input and deliberates.
It should plan to conduct interviews and other consultations
during the Third IETF. The committee is due to complete its
candidate selection no later than 2 months prior to the First
IETF (approx. January 1).
4. END the Selection of Candidates; BEGIN the Confirmation of
Candidates; Time is at least 2 months prior to the First IETF
(approx. January 1);
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5. The committee presents its candidates to their respective
confirming bodies. The presentation must be done no later than 2
months prior to the First IETF (approx. January 1).
6. The confirming bodies have 1 month to deliberate and accept or
reject candidates.
7. The Chair announces the confirmed candidates. The announcement
must be done no later than 1 month prior to the First IETF
(approx. February 1).
Appendix C. Alternate Nomcom Selection Method
This section is intended to be a drop in replacement for Section 4.17
above. It addresses some statistical issues where it is possible for
large organizations to all but guarantee two slots in the Nomcom.
C.1. Statistics
The current method of selection does a single stage lottery from a
pool consisting of all volunteers with the goal of selecting 10
voting members for the Nomcom. It differs from a straight lottery in
that it mandates re-selection if a the organization of a selectee
matches that of two previously selected members.
Given these paramaters, the binomial distribution for an organization
who has members comprising 30% of the volunteer pool is:
0 Members: 2.8%
1 Member: 12.1%
2 Members: 85.1%
The 85.1% is the sum of all the expected results from 2 to 10
members, given the cap at 2 members. An organization with 20% of the
pool has a distribution of 10.7%/26.8%/62.4% for 0, 1 and 2 members.
The proposal below suggests a method which caps these percentages at
34.9%/38.7%/26.4% for any organization which provides 10% or more of
the volunteer pool.
C.2. Selection Process
The Chair groups volunteers by the volunteer's self-identified
organization and creates a first pass selection pool consisting of
the collection of N tokens from each organization, where N is the
lesser of the number of volunteers from that organization or 10% of
the total number of volunteers (rounded up). E.g. if the total
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volunteer pool is 124 members, and if an organization has 13 members,
13 tokens will be placed in the initial selection pool for that
organization; if the organization has 5 members, 5 tokens will be
placed in the pool; and if the organization has 23 members, only 13
tokens will be placed in the pool.
The Chair randomly selects 10 tokens from the pool, reselecting if 2
tokens from that organization have already been selected.
For each token the Chair selected in the initial lottery, the Chair
will now randomly select one member from the set of volunteers from
the organization represented by that token. Those selectees are the
members of the Nomcom.
Author's Address
Michael C StJohns
Email: msj@nthpermutation.com
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