# **Technical Steering Committee (TSC) Selection, Rotation, and Conflict-of-Interest Policy**

The Partnership Covenant  
Version 1.0 — November 2025

## **1\. Purpose of the TSC**

The Technical Steering Committee (TSC) is the primary decision-making body responsible for:

* Upholding the **Four Pillars** of The Partnership Covenant  
* Approving changes that impact safety, justice, transparency, or security  
* Maintaining the integrity of the immutable technical and governance foundation  
* Exercising **veto authority** when a proposed action threatens any core pillar

This policy defines how TSC members are selected, rotated, removed, and constrained to prevent governance capture or undue influence.

## **2\. Composition of the TSC**

### **2.1 Voting Members (5–9 total)**

The TSC consists of **5 to 9** voting members, representing these required roles:

* **Deep Safety Lead**  
* **Algorithmic Justice Lead**  
* **Security Architect**  
* **Transparency & Provenance Lead**  
* **Community Steward**

Additional members may be added with a ⅔ TSC vote if justification is documented publicly.

### **2.2 Non-Voting Observers**

Observers may attend meetings but have no voting authority.

Observers include:

* Contributors rotating through governance training  
* External auditors  
* Academic or civil society advisors

Observer status must never be used to exert decision-making pressure.

## **3\. Eligibility Criteria**

A TSC candidate must:

* Demonstrate domain expertise relevant to their role  
* Have a proven track record of public, ethical contributions  
* Disclose all financial, organizational, or political affiliations relevant to AI governance  
* Agree in writing to this entire Selection & CoI Policy  
* Have no unresolved CoI flagged by contributors or auditors

The Covenant explicitly prohibits:

* Representatives from intelligence agencies  
* Individuals directly funded by entities with a conflict against the Four Pillars  
* Anyone acting as a proxy for outside corporate or political interests

## **4\. Selection Process**

### **4.1 Nomination**

Eligible contributors may be nominated by:

* Any existing TSC member  
* Any contributor with ≥ 3 accepted PRs  
* Any working group lead

### **4.2 Community Vetting Period (7–21 days)**

A nomination triggers a public vetting period where contributors may:

* Ask questions  
* Raise concerns  
* Flag possible conflicts  
* Provide endorsements

All comments are preserved as part of the immutable governance record.

### **4.3 Structured Interview (recorded)**

Nominees must participate in a structured interview, covering:

* Safety philosophy  
* Justice commitments  
* Transparency expectations  
* How they would handle coercion or capture attempts

Interviews are recorded, signed, and stored under IPFS CID.

### **4.4 Voting**

Approval requires:

* ⅔ supermajority of the current TSC  
* Zero outstanding unresolved CoI flags

Approved members join at the next rotation checkpoint.

## **5\. Term Length & Rotation**

### **5.1 Term Length**

Each TSC member serves:

* **12-month terms**  
* Maximum **3 consecutive terms**  
* After 3 terms, a mandatory **12-month cooldown** is imposed.

### **5.2 Staggered Rotation**

Terms are staggered to ensure:

* No more than ⅓ of the TSC turns over at once  
* Continuity of governance memory  
* Reduced capture vulnerability

A rotation schedule is published yearly.

## **6\. Removal or Suspension**

A TSC member may be suspended or removed for:

* Violating CoI rules  
* Attempting to circumvent transparency or provenance requirements  
* Engaging in coercion, harassment, or abusive conduct  
* Failing to disclose new conflicts  
* Attempting governance capture (e.g., bloc voting with undisclosed external interests)

Removal requires:

* A **¾ TSC vote**, or  
* A supermajority community vote initiated by a validated governance incident report

If emergency removal is required to preserve safety or integrity, an Interim Safety Council (ISC) may suspend a member for up to 14 days pending investigation.

## **7\. Conflict-of-Interest (CoI) Policy**

### **7.1 Disclosure Requirements**

TSC members must disclose (publicly):

* All employers  
* All funding sources  
* Advisory positions  
* Investments in AI-related companies  
* Previous government or military affiliations  
* Any personal relationships that may bias decisions

### **7.2 Categories of Conflict**

Conflicts fall into three categories:

#### **Hard Conflict (Disqualifying)**

* Direct funding from entities opposing the Covenant’s pillars  
* Undisclosed AI-industry lobbying  
* Employment in organizations with adversarial control interests

#### **Soft Conflict (Recusal Required)**

* Consulting relationships  
* Investments in companies whose models may be reviewed by the TSC  
* Prior employment within the past 18 months

#### **Contextual Conflict (Case-by-Case)**

* Academic collaborations  
* Shared grant funding  
* Material personal relationships

### **7.3 Recusal Rules**

A member must recuse themselves when:

* A decision affects an entity they have a soft or contextual conflict with  
* They stand to personally benefit from the decision  
* Their impartiality can reasonably be questioned

Recusals are logged publicly.

## **8\. Anti-Capture Guarantees**

The Covenant includes explicit anti-capture protections:

* Mandatory term limits  
* Multi-role distribution of authority  
* Publicly logged voting and dissent  
* Decentralized nomination  
* Cryptographically signed decision records  
* CID-rooted provenance for all governance document versions  
* Requirements for disclosures to be permanently archived

## **9\. Amendment Procedure**

This document may only be amended via:

* A **⅔ TSC supermajority**, and  
* A public community review period of **21 days**, and  
* An immutable governance record update (new CID anchored)

Any amendment bypassing these steps is invalid.

## **10\. Acceptance**

By accepting a TSC position, the member cryptographically signs a statement affirming:

* Understanding and adherence to this policy  
* Commitment to the Four Pillars  
* Agreement to mandatory public disclosure  
* Agreement to abide by recusal and CoI rules  
* Understanding that violations may trigger removal

The signed attestation is attached to the governance ledger as a CID.