diff --git a/PRINCIPLES.md b/PRINCIPLES.md
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--- a/PRINCIPLES.md
+++ b/PRINCIPLES.md
@@ -78,6 +78,8 @@ Via the “no kingmakers” principle and “what is a project”, the CNCF may
 
 This means that the CNCF is not promoting a single, monolithic stack of technologies. 
 
+CNCF projects may have dependencies on other open source projects that comply with the [CNCF IP policy]( https://github.com/cncf/foundation/blob/master/whitelist-policy.md), which may be outside the CNCF. Widely-used dependencies are preferred; pluggable dependencies fit well with our principles but are not essential.  _Examples: Kubernetes' dependency on etcd, which was not a CNCF project at the time Kubernetes was brought into the CNCF; CNI, which enables pluggable networking dependencies._ 
+
 The CNCF is a badge of quality and velocity. CNCF projects should be on a path to being tools that users can trust, broadly work together, and that meet other cloud native criteria. But the CNCF badge does not mean “this is the standard tool”.
 
 - Overlapping projects are ok, especially where they make significantly different design tradeoffs