ICANN's Chehadé, Ex-NSA Adviser Brief Atlantic Council Roundtable on Geopolitical Implications of IANA Transition
ICANN CEO Fadi Chehadé and former National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley, now a partner at consulting firm RiceHadleyGates, led an off-the-record roundtable event Monday on the national security and geostrategic implications of the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority transition, stakeholders told…
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us. The event, at the Atlantic Council’s Washington office, was aimed at civil society Internet governance stakeholders but also included State Department officials, an industry official said. The event was also an opportunity for invited stakeholders to learn what they “can do in the critical coming months, as ICANN prepares to present” the IANA transition proposal and a related set of proposed changes to ICANN’s accountability mechanisms to NTIA for final approval, an invitation to the roundtable said. The roundtable is “really another in a long series of events we’ve participated in to raise awareness among” Washington-based parties about the IANA transition as planning for the transition has continued to progress, said ICANN Vice President-Business Engagement Chris Mondini. The roundtable was a follow-up to a similar off-the-record Atlantic Council event earlier this year. ICANN has participated in “dozens of these smaller roundtables,” including events at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the Center for Strategic and International Studies, Mondini said. ICANN’s presence at the off-the-record roundtable raised concerns among some stakeholders amid a push for ICANN to increase its transparency, though an industry lobbyist said hosting organizations -- rather than ICANN -- typically dictate whether such meetings are on or off the record. The Atlantic Council and Hadley didn’t comment. This roundtable specifically focused on general security issues on how international pressure in the Internet governance space might lead to balkanization of the Internet along national borders, Mondini told us. The session wasn’t being held in connection with recent concerns about government stakeholders’ demands for revisions to the Cross Community Working Group on Enhancing ICANN Accountability’s (CCWG-Accountability) proposed ICANN accountability mechanism changes, Mondini said. CCWG-Accountability hasn’t reached consensus on whether to propose amending ICANN’s bylaws to require the ICANN board to find a “mutually acceptable solution” when the Governmental Advisory Committee provides advice that’s supported by GAC member consensus. CCWG-Accountability is also grappling with a proposal from Brazil and several other GAC members to resurrect a 2014 proposal to amend the ICANN bylaws to require two-thirds of the ICANN board to vote to be able to reject consensus GAC advice (see 1511160047).