Paris, July 4, SPA -- France and the United States have a verytight cooperation in the fight against terrorism that hassuccessfully blocked a "number of catastrophes," theFrench defense minister said Monday. Michele Alliot-Marie declined to confirm the existence ofa secret alliance between the two nations' spy agencies,the CIA and the DGSE, that was reported by The WashingtonPost on Sunday. "I confirm that there is a very thorough cooperation inthe fight against terrorism notably with the UnitedStates," Alliot-Marie told LCI television. "On both sides of the Atlantic, we are very pleased withthe quality of this cooperation that has certainly avoideda certain number of catastrophes and that certainly willcontinue to do so in the future," Alliot-Marie said,without elaborating.--SPA1200 Local Time 0900 GMT www.spa.gov.sa/274449