The Atrocities Prevention Board (APB) is an interagency committee consisting of U.S. officials from the National Security Council, the Departments of State, Defense, Justice, and Treasury, the U.S. Agency for International Development, and the U.S. Intelligence Community.
In December 2008, with the onset of Barack Obama's election as President of the United States, the task force recommended the creation of a new high-level interagency body that would improve the U.S. government's crisis-response systems, better equip the government to mount coherent and timely preventive diplomatic strategies, and prepare interagency genocide prevention and response plans for high-risk situations.
[4][5][2] The board was loosely modeled after an Atrocities Prevention Interagency Working Group established by United States Ambassador-at-Large for War Crimes Issues David Scheffer at the end of the Clinton Administration.
[6] On February 15, 2013, Power stepped down from her position in the National Security Council, and Stephen Pomper succeeded her as the chair of the APB.
[2] However, the board has met considerable skepticism and criticism for its failure to prevent genocides in Syria, Iraq, the Central African Republic, and South Sudan.