US Defense Secretary William Cohen held talks on Thursday with Egyptian Defense Minister Mohammed Hussein Tantawi on sharing missile early-warning data with Gulf and Middle East allies. The talks kicked off a two-day visit by Cohen, who is also scheduled to meet with President Hosni Mubarak on Friday and observe a major wargames exercise involving more than 70000 troops from nearly a dozen countries. During his last visit to the region in March, Cohen proposed sharing missile early-warning data with friendly countries in the Gulf and Middle East to counter what Washington perceives to be a growing missile threat, principally from Iran. Since US defense officials have held briefings with regional leaders since March on missile early-warning sharing, as well as the need to refurbish passive defenses against attack with chemical or biological agents.