The Inside Story of How the U.S. Acted to Prevent Another Rwanda
Activists and U.S. officials alike say that the speed at which the United States has responded is unprecedented and part of it is due to a little heralded document and the bureaucratic tool it created. Presidential Study Directive 10 (PSD-10) came into being in 2011, declaring for the first time that “preventing mass atrocities and genocide is a core national security interest and a core moral responsibility of the United States.” Never before has an official document so bluntly said that the United States’ “security is affected when masses of civilians are slaughtered, refugees flow across borders, and murderers wreak havoc on regional stability and livelihoods. America’s reputation suffers, and our ability to bring about change is constrained, when we are perceived as idle in the face of mass atrocities and genocide.”
The cornerstone of this directive was the creation of the Atrocities Prevention Board (APB), an interagency panel meant to draw expertise and ideas from across the federal government on how to prevent mass atrocities before they gain traction. Drawn from 11 agencies — including State, Defense, Treasury, Justice, the CIA and others — and represented by high-ranking officials, the APB was designed to be both a forum for long-term strategic planning as well as emergency response to developing crises. It would seem that the situation in the Central African Republic would be a prime case for the APB, after a lackluster first year of existence. Even fans of the administration’s approach
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