diff --git a/src/permissions.rs b/src/permissions.rs
index 0c8c7d0f3..bab38345a 100644
--- a/src/permissions.rs
+++ b/src/permissions.rs
@@ -81,6 +81,10 @@ macro_rules! permissions {
                 $(concat!("crates_io_ops_bot.", stringify!($crates_io_ops_app)),)*
             ];
 
+            pub(crate) const REQUIRES_DISCORD: &'static [&'static str] = &[
+                $(concat!("crates_io_ops_bot.", stringify!($crates_io_ops_app)),)*
+            ];
+
             pub(crate) fn has(&self, permission: &str) -> bool {
                 self.has_directly(permission) || self.has_indirectly(permission)
             }
diff --git a/src/validate.rs b/src/validate.rs
index dd2f2848e..9a0881c47 100644
--- a/src/validate.rs
+++ b/src/validate.rs
@@ -24,6 +24,7 @@ static CHECKS: &[fn(&Data, &mut Vec<String>)] = &[
     validate_team_names,
     validate_github_teams,
     validate_marker_team,
+    validate_discord_permissions,
 ];
 
 static GITHUB_CHECKS: &[fn(&Data, &GitHubApi, &mut Vec<String>)] = &[validate_github_usernames];
@@ -435,6 +436,46 @@ fn validate_marker_team(data: &Data, errors: &mut Vec<String>) {
     });
 }
 
+/// Ensure all users with a Discord permission have a Discord ID.
+fn validate_discord_permissions(data: &Data, errors: &mut Vec<String>) {
+    wrapper(
+        Permissions::REQUIRES_DISCORD.iter(),
+        errors,
+        |permission, errors| {
+            wrapper(data.people(), errors, |person, _| {
+                if person.permissions().has(permission) && person.discord_id().is_none() {
+                    bail!(
+                        "person `{}` has a Discord permission (`{}`) but no Discord ID",
+                        person.github(),
+                        permission
+                    );
+                }
+                Ok(())
+            });
+            wrapper(data.teams(), errors, |team, errors| {
+                if !team.permissions().has(permission) {
+                    return Ok(());
+                }
+                wrapper(team.members(data)?.iter(), errors, |member, _| {
+                    let person = data
+                        .person(member)
+                        .ok_or_else(|| failure::format_err!("missing person {}", member))?;
+                    if person.discord_id().is_none() {
+                        bail!(
+                            "person `{}` has a Discord permission (`{}`) but no Discord ID",
+                            person.github(),
+                            permission
+                        );
+                    }
+                    Ok(())
+                });
+                Ok(())
+            });
+            Ok(())
+        },
+    );
+}
+
 fn wrapper<T, I, F>(iter: I, errors: &mut Vec<String>, mut func: F)
 where
     I: Iterator<Item = T>,