WASHINGTON, DC -- According to a January 6, 2006, article in the New York Times, a Pentagon study found that at least 80 percent of Marines who have been killed in Iraq from wounds to their upper body could have survived if they had extra body armor. In response, Senators Jack Reed (D-RI) and Harry Reid (D-NV) sent a letter to the President requesting that he urge the Department of Defense (DoD) to immediately make available to the Congress its body armor study and that relevant Administration officials appear before Congress on the matter. On January 11, 2006, the Senate Armed Services Committee, of which Reed is a member, held a briefing on the matter with Pentagon officials.Senator Reed stated, It is deeply troubling that lives could have been saved by providing extra body armor to our soldiers. Our troops not only deserve the best equipment available, but they have a right to receive this equipment in a timely manner. Reed continued, I am pleased that the Pentagon is beginning to take the right steps to provide increased body armor to our troops fighting overseas. This necessary step is overdue, but I am hopeful it will save many lives.