Sharing Data, Saving Soldiers

If the Pentagon and the Veterans Affairs Department need official data-use agreements under federal law to share medical records about severely injured troops returning from Iraq and Afghanistan to receive treatment in VA hospitals, they should work them out--pronto. Because otherwise they're going to have to endure more headlines like this one, from Al Kamen's "In The Loop" column in today's Washington Post: "Pentagon Red Tape Keeps Medical Records From Doctors of the Wounded."