I reply to the preceding Comment.The preceding Comment [1] by Chen et al. discusses two separate tests [2,3] of the so-called "fermion dynamical symmetry model" [4,5] (FDSM), one for an isospininvariant version [6 -8], in the sd shell [2] (see also Ref.[9]), the other [3] using an HFB calculation [10] for Gd. In both cases, by directly examining the assumption that ". . . coherent S and D pairs are the most important building blocks in low-energy collective states, "[11], the FDSM was found to have no microscopic justification. Chen et al. [1] seek to contest this conclusion; in this reply their comments are answered. The opinions expressed by Chen et al. [1] may be summarized as follows. 1. The basic assumption of the FDSM, that low-energy collective shell model states fa11 into a particular subspace [11,12] (a statement concerning wave functions), should not be investigated directly. The existence of effective operators capable of reproducing data should be the criterion by which the validity of this supposedly microscopic [13]model is assessed. 2. A comparison of pairs gives no indication of the overlap of many-pair states. 3. The 5+ Q Q Hamiltonian is not a sufficiently reasonable approximation to a realistic full shell model effective interaction, even for low-energy nuclear structure physics. In addition, the particular mean field solution of this [10]may not be an accurate approximation. 4. The possible FDSM symmetries in the sd shell are expected not to be realized there. Opinion 1 applies to both investigations [2,3] and is the central point, referring to any such future test. Opinions 2 and 3 apply to the ' Gd test [3] only, opinion 4 to the sd shell investigation [2]. Each point will be answered in turn. 1. The existence of effective operators is the appropriate criterion for the validity of a phenomenological model; it cannot be sufhcient for a supposedly realistic microscopic model, whose necessarily stronger statement should satisfy some additional criteria. For the FDSM, the microscopic structure employs the usual full shell model valence spaces, for which a realistic description is widely accepted as involving only a small selection of known effective interactions. (A brief discussion on the range of Hamiltonians generally considered as realistic, in this context of low-energy levels, is given in Sec. III.) The defining assumption is then that the resulting eigenfunctions can be at least approximately constructed from particular symmetry-determined S and D pairs [5] vis. ". .. coherent S and D pairs are the most important building blocks in low-energy collective states" [11], "The FDSM is, in fact, a prescription for solution of the shell model through a radical symmetry dictated truncation" [12], ". . . fully microscopic connections between these dynamical symmetries and the underlying shell structure" [13], and ". . . any dynamical symmetries relevant to nuclear structure should manifest themselves directly from the fermion degrees of freedom without explicitly introducing bosons" [14]. That the...