Of course, U.S. national security concerns span the globe and are inherently complex, so even at a healthy 52 pages this strategy document never really moves beyond summary. Still, this document is the best guide to date regarding what is and what isn’t important to the President and his Administration on the national security/foreign policy front. It’s therefore good news to see President Obama in his preamble identify “resolving and preventing conflict, while also healing its wounds” as one of only five central national security challenges the U.S. faces.

There’s a lot to work within this NSS, but it’s worth highlighting a few passages. Some references are expected but no less welcome for their predictability, such as the pronouncement that the United States “remains committed to working with the international community to support implementation of outstanding elements of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement and ensure that the referendum on the future of Southern Sudan in 2011 happens on time and that its results are respected.” Similarly, the President’s commitment to “engage in the efforts necessary to support peace and stability after the referendum, and continue to work to secure peace, dignity, and accountability in Darfur” is certainly welcome.

Beyond reiterations of continuing priorities, the NSS also features the most significant official statement of Administration policy regarding genocide and mass atrocity prevention to date. Specifically, the NSS says this on page 48:

The United States is committed to working with our allies, and to strengthening our own internal capabilities, in order to ensure that the United States and the international community are proactively engaged in a strategic effort to prevent mass atrocities and genocide. In the event that prevention fails, the United States will work both multilaterally and bilaterally to mobilize diplomatic, humanitarian, financial, and—in certain instances—military means to prevent and respond to genocide and mass atrocities. (2010 U.S. NSS, pg 48)

As luck would have it, that is exactly what Save Darfur, the Genocide Intervention Network, and our other partners have been calling for. While we all still have plenty of work to do to ensure that the U.S. and the international community learn and act on the lessons of Darfur to prevent future horrors, this first official step in that direction is very good news indeed.

Following the failure of the international community to prevent or effectively respond to Darfur and the genocides of the 1990’s, the bipartisan Genocide Prevention Task Force led by former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and former Secretary of Defense Bill Cohen released a detailed report in December ’08 detailing how the U.S. government should go about making itself better able to anticipate, prevent, and if all else fails, respond to genocide.  One of the first recommended steps is the appointment of an NSC point-person on genocide and mass atrocities, who would in turn be tasked with the formation and coordination of a standing interagency working group on genocide prevention and response.  For readers from outside the beltway, interagency working groups consist of representatives from various departments, agencies, and bureaus within the Administration, in this case including folks from the Departments of State, Treasury, and Defense, as well as the intelligence community and the U.S. Agency for International Development.

The President’s creation of this new bureaucratic genocide prevention infrastructure and the appointment of former State Department staffer and George Clooney advisor David Pressman to coordinate it is therefore a big step in the right direction.  That said, a beefed up genocide prevention bureaucracy is simply a means to better U.S. policy, and should not be mistaken for the desired end of that policy’s full adoption and implementation.  In short, there’s a lot of work left to do, including the building of a better early warning system, the growth of bilateral and multilateral leverage to help steer troubled states away from a course towards genocide, and the building of U.S. and international civilian and military capacity to respond to new atrocities and episodes of genocide with the goal of nipping them in the bud.

With the right political support and sufficient bureaucratic resources, this new NSC directorate and interagency working group could become the nucleus of a transformative government-wide effort towards creating a world as free from genocide as is humanly possible.  Without enough public and political support, it could prove to be nothing more than an isolated flash in the pan.  While only time will tell, one fact is abundantly clear: if we once again fail to learn the lessons of genocides past, we shall once again be doomed to repeat them.

A.J. Fay recently helped organize the Sudan365 program in Boise, where activists from several cities within the United States and 15 other countries stood in solidarity with the people of Sudan and rose awareness of the possible return of all out violence in the country. A.J. has been a longtime activist in the Sudan movement, and below are his own words about his passion for the people of Sudan.

I first became involved in the Darfur campaign when I was in high school. I joined an Amnesty International chapter and worked on various campaigns, realizing I had a strong interest in human rights advocacy. One day, the ongoing crisis in Darfur came up, and it immediately sparked my interest. I thought, “how genocide could still be occurring systematically in the 21^st century?”  I yearned to learn more, and Save Darfur Coalition served as a resource for my research. I also visited Amnesty International to strengthen my knowledge base, and I was smitten by the resilience of the Sudanese people, their rich culture, and immediately I knew I wanted to be of part of the movement to act as a voice for the people of Sudan. So, through the Save Darfur Web site I found a few people that wanted to meet and discuss how Idaho could create a movement, and it was clear for us all in our hearts that we couldn’t remain idle.

What fuels my passion to continue working to help bring sustainable peace to Darfur and all of Sudan is the personal and working relationships I enjoy with the Darfuris and Sudanese refugees in my community. Boise is a major refugee resettlement and home to three resettlement agencies in town. Truthfully, the Darfuri and Sudanese people give me hope; their strength is inspiring and their stories gripping. I could never give up on the Sudan movement, because I am vested in the long race. This truly is a part of me, and I will work on their behalf until we bring an end to the genocide, rebuild the country, and restore Sudan to a peaceful state and to its citizens.

I wish every activist could get to enjoy the first hand experience of living and working with Darfuris who experienced the genocidal regime of Al-Bashir and can also tell the stories of their agony and those of Sudanese people. I love this movement, the Sudanese people, and the leaders of the movement. I will follow this through the end.

Yesterday marked the 65th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz, since 2005 commemorated by the United Nations as International Holocaust Remembrance Day.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and President Obama both made statements in honor of the day.

President Obama said in a video message:

I want to thank those of you who found the strength to come back again, so many years later, despite the horror you saw here, the suffering you endured here, and the loved ones you lost here.  Those of us who did not live through those dark days will never truly understand what it means to have hate literally etched into your arms.  But we understand the message that you carry in your hearts.

For you know the truth that Elie Wiesel spoke when I stood with him at Buchenwald last spring.  There, where his father and so many innocent souls left this earth, Elie said that “memory has become the sacred duty of all people of goodwill.”

We have a sacred duty to remember the twisted thinking that led here—how a great society of culture and science succumbed to the worst instincts of man and rationalized mass murder and one of the most barbaric acts in history.

Holocaust survivors will not be with us forever ‑‑ but the legacy of their survival must live on.  We must preserve their stories ‑‑ through memorials, through education, most of all through robust efforts to prevent genocide and other grave crimes.

The United Nations is fully committed to this cause.  Together, let us pledge to carry forward the mission of Holocaust remembrance ‑‑ and uphold human dignity for all.

Photo of Auschwitz-Birkenau by flickr user daneen_vol.