The United States is taking steps to better prevent mass atrocities around the world, including genocide.

President Barack Obama Thursday announced the creation of an Atrocities Prevention Board. The panel will be charged with finding ways for the United States to respond more quickly to mass atrocities and better act in ways that can prevent potential atrocities.

In a presidential directive, Mr. Obama said preventing mass atrocities and genocide is in the country's national security interest and a “core moral responsibility.”

The president said the board is needed because the U.S. still lacks a comprehensive policy on coordinating responses to mass atrocities 66 years after the Holocaust and 17 years after the Rwandan genocide.

Mr. Obama also issued a proclamation expanding the criteria for denying human rights violators entry into the United States.