This document describes the function and responsibilities of the RFC Independent Submission Editor (ISE). The Independent Submission stream is one of the stream producers that create draft RFCs, with the ISE as its stream approver. The ISE is overall responsible for activities within the Independent Submission stream, working with draft editors and reviewers, and interacts with the RFC Production Center and Publisher, and the RFC Series Editor (RSE). The ISE is appointed by the IAB, and also interacts with the IETF Administration Limited Liability Company (LLC). This version obsoletes RFC 6548 to replace all references to the Internet Administrative Support Activity (IASA) and related structures with those defined by the IASA 2.0 structure.

This document is not an Internet Standards Track specification; it is published for informational purposes. This document is a product of the Internet Architecture Board (IAB) and represents information that the IAB has deemed valuable to provide for permanent record. It represents the consensus of the Internet Architecture Board (IAB). Documents approved for publication by the IAB are not candidates for any level of Internet Standard; see Section 2 of RFC 7841. Information about the current status of this document, any errata, and how to provide feedback on it may be obtained at https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc8730.

Copyright (c) 2020 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 (https://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.

The RFC Editor Model [RFC 8728] defines a set of streams that produce draft RFCs, which are submitted for publication. This document defines the management function for the Independent Submission stream, specifically the role of Independent Submission Editor (ISE). The previous version of this document [RFC 6548] is a derivative of RFC 5620, Section 3.2, and was separated out from [RFC 6635]. This document updates the Independent Submission Editor Model to align it with the IASA 2.0 structure [RFC 8711] that creates the IETF Administration Limited Liability Company ("LLC") managed by a board of directors ("LLC Board"). This document obsoletes [RFC 6548].

The ISE is an individual who is responsible for the Independent Submission stream of RFCs, as defined by [RFC 8729]. The Independent Submission stream and the ISE are not under the authority or direction of the RSE or the RFC Series Oversight Committee (RSOC) (see [RFC 8728]). As noted below, the ISE is appointed by and is responsible directly to the IAB.

The ISE is a senior position for which the following qualifications are desired:

1. Technical competence, i.e., broad technical experience and perspective across a wide range of Internet technologies and applications, and also the ability to work effectively with portions of that spectrum in which they have no personal expertise.
2. Thorough familiarity with the RFC series.
3. An ability to define and constitute advisory and document review arrangements. If those arrangements include an Editorial Board similar to the current one or some equivalent arrangement, the ability to assess the technical competence of potential Editorial Board members (see Section 3).
4. Good standing in the technical community, in and beyond the IETF.
5. Demonstrated editorial skills, good command of the English language, and demonstrated history of being able to work effectively with technical documents and materials created by others.
6. The ability to work effectively in a multi-actor environment with divided authority and responsibility similar to that described in [RFC 6635].

The ISE is an individual who may have assistants and who is responsible for:

1. Maintaining technical quality of the Independent Submission stream.
2. Reviewing, approving, and processing Independent Submissions.
3. Forwarding draft RFCs in the Independent Submission stream to the RFC Production Center.
4. Defining and developing the scope of the Independent Submission stream as a part of the overall RFC Editor function [RFC 6635].
5. Reviewing and approving RFC errata for Independent Submissions.
6. Coordinating work and conforming to general RFC Series policies as specified by the IAB and RSE.
7. Providing statistics and documentation as requested by the RSE and/or LLC.

The ISE may choose to select individuals to participate in an Advisory Board for assistance in special topics as the ISE deems appropriate. Such an Advisory Board exists at the pleasure of the ISE, and its members serve at the pleasure of the ISE. The individual with the listed qualifications is selected by the IAB after input has been collected from the community. While the ISE itself is considered a volunteer function, the IAB considers maintaining the Independent Submission stream part of the IAB's supported activities. Therefore, the LLC should include these costs in the IASA budget.

The ISE is supported by an Editorial Board for the review of Independent Submission stream documents. This board is known as the Independent Submission Editorial Board. This volunteer Editorial Board exists at the pleasure of the ISE, and its members serve at the pleasure of the ISE. The existence of this board is simply noted within this model, and additional discussion of such is considered out of scope of this document.

This document has no specific security implications, however the same security considerations as those in [RFC 4846] and [RFC 8729] apply.

[RFC4846]

J. Klensin, and D. Thaler, "Independent Submissions to the RFC Editor", RFC 4846, DOI 10.17487/RFC4846, July 2007,
<https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc4846>.

[RFC6548]

IAB, N. Brownlee, "Independent Submission Editor Model", RFC 6548, DOI 10.17487/RFC6548, June 2012,
<https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc6548>.

[RFC8711]

B. Haberman, J. Hall, and J. Livingood, "Structure of the IETF Administrative Support Activity, Version 2.0", BCP 101, RFC 8711, DOI 10.17487/RFC8711, February 2020,
<https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc8711>.

[RFC8728]

O Kolkman, J Halpern, and R Hinden, "RFC Editor Model (Version 2)", RFC 8728, DOI 10.17487/RFC8728, February 2020,
<https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc8728>.

[RFC8729]

R. Housley, and L. Daigle, "The RFC Series and RFC Editor", RFC 8729, DOI 10.17487/RFC8729, February 2020,
<https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc8729>.

[RFC5620]

IAB, O. Kolkman, "RFC Editor Model (Version 1)", RFC 5620, DOI 10.17487/RFC5620, August 2009,
<https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc5620>.

[RFC6635]

IAB, O. Kolkman, and J. Halpern, "RFC Editor Model (Version 2)", RFC 6635, DOI 10.17487/RFC6635, June 2012,
<https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc6635>.

The IAB members at the time of approval of [RFC 6548] were: Bernard Aboba, Ross Callon, Alissa Cooper, Joel Halpern, Spencer Dawkins, Russ Housley, David Kessens, Olaf Kolkman, Danny McPherson, Jon Peterson, Andrei Robachevsky, Dave Thaler, and Hannes Tschofenig. The IAB members at the time of approval of this document (RFC 8730) were: Jari Arkko, Alissa Cooper, Stephen Farrell, Wes Hardaker, Ted Hardie, Christian Huitema, Zhenbin Li, Erik Nordmark, Mark Nottingham, Melinda Shore, Jeff Tantsura, Martin Thomson, and Brian Trammell.

Generous thanks to Joel Halpern for all his help with this document, and for all his work on [RFC 6635]. Thanks also to the IAB members, whose comments and suggestions were both welcome and useful. Bob Hinden served as document editor for this RFC to align it with the IASA 2.0 structure.

Nevil Brownlee

Robert M. Hinden