Facts are all-important in the pursuit of truth and justice, said Rod Rosenstein, the U.S. deputy attorney general, in remarks to the American Academy of Forensic Sciences plenary session Wednesday morning.

The Department of Justice is proceeding with a series of initiatives to improve the empirical foundations of forensic sciences, Rosenstein told the AAFS membership in the biggest meeting of the week-long conference in Seattle. (The AAFS says the total registration as of Wednesday night for the conference is nearly 3,200 people.)

“The new measures will advance the practice of reliable and responsible forensic science in federal courts,” said Rosenstein, who has been in the national limelight in part because of the ongoing federal investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election. “Our Department is committed to leading by example.”

The DOJ is moving forward with several initiatives to improve forensic standards, he announced.

The Council of Federal Forensic Laboratory Directors will be reinstituted with a completely new charter, and begin meeting in May.

The “Uniform Language” standards for federal court testimony, as proposed last year, are beginning to emerge. The first document, guiding the expert testimony of latent fingerprint examiners, is now available, with more to come. more