RFC 1160 (rfc1160) - Page 2 of 11

Internet Activities Board

RFC 1160                        The IAB                        May 1990


   1979, it was necessary to form an informal committee to guide the
   technical evolution of the protocol suite.  This group was called the
   Internet Configuration Control Board (ICCB) and was established by
   Dr. Vinton Cerf who was then the DARPA program manager for the
   effort. Dr. David C. Clark of the Laboratory for Computer Science at
   Massachusetts Institute of Technology was named the chairman of this
   committee.

   In January, 1983, the Defense Communications Agency, then responsible
   for the operation of the ARPANET, declared the TCP/IP protocol suite
   to be standard for the ARPANET and all systems on the network
   converted from the earlier Network Control Program (NCP) to TCP/IP.
   Late that year, the ICCB was reorganized by Dr. Barry Leiner, Cerf's
   successor at DARPA, around a series of task forces considering
   different technical aspects of internetting.  The re-organized group
   was named the Internet Activities Board.

   As the Internet expanded, it drew support from U.S. Government
   organizations including DARPA, the National Science Foundation (NSF),
   the Department of Energy (DOE) and the National Aeronautics and Space
   Administration (NASA).  Key managers in these organizations,
   responsible for computer networking research and development, formed
   an informal Federal Research Internet Coordinating Committee (FRICC)
   to coordinate U.S. Government support for and development and use of
   the Internet system.  The FRICC sponsored most of the U.S. research
   on internetting, including support for the Internet Activities Board
   and its subsidiary organizations.

   In 1990, the FRICC was reorganized as part of a larger initiative
   sponsored by the networking subcommittee of the Federal Coordinating
   Committee on Science, Engineering and Technology (FCCSET).  The
   reorganization created the Federal Networking Council (FNC) and its
   Working Groups.  The membership of the FNC included all the former
   FRICC members and many other U.S. Government representatives.  The
   first chairman of the FNC is Dr. Charles Brownstein of the National
   Science Foundation.  The FNC is the Federal Government's body for
   coordinating the agencies that support the Internet.  It provides
   liaison to the Office of Science and Technology Policy (headed by the
   President's Science Advisor) which is responsible for setting science
   and technology policy affecting the Internet.  It endorses and
   employs the existing planning and operational activities of the
   community-based bodies that have grown up to manage the Internet in
   the United States.  The FNC plans to involve user and supplier
   communities through creation of an external advisory board and will
   coordinate Internet activities with other Federal initiatives ranging
   from the Human Genome and Global Change programs to educational
   applications.  The FNC has also participated in planning for the
   creation of a National Research and Education Network in the United



Cerf