[captioninmade possible by kcetublic television] tavis: good evening fromos angeles, i'm tavismiley. in what's come the most siificant terror plot since 11, a 24-year-old afghanman pled not guilty to crges yesterday that he s planning detonate a large bomb on a target inew york city. that follows news of sevel other terror threats over th last month. is the unid states at the greatest risk a ne terr

attack sice 201? that question with tom rge. and former "chicago hope" sta adam arkintops by. he stars in the new con brothers film, "a rious man". we're glad jufe -- you've join us the >> there are so many things wal-mart is doing, like helping peop lie better but most important, buiing better relaonshs. >> nationwid insurance prouly suppts tavis smley. nationwide -- working to prove financial literacy and the empowerment that com with it. nationwide is on youside. >> and by cotributions to this pbs ation from viewers li you. thank you.

tavis: tom rie has long record of public svice dating back to s days i congress anas governor of pennsylvania. in 2001 he becam the nation's first-ever secretary of homeland security foowing the attacks of 201. his new book is called book book, andet me start wi the obous, can we e safe wh all the arrests of late? >> i think weave become progressively safe and afer every day since 2001. but the recent arrst of zazzy in colorad and som of the lone wolves in illinois and texas, unfortunately it's reminder tt the work is not er and that can't afford thluxury of being compacent

about eith domestic terrorts or those tied in with theinternional apology adists. tas: are these arrests of late to our mind coincidentalal or mething we needo be paying attention to? >> it's a very nsightful estion and one that needs to be ansered. as i take a lookat the bagrounds of some of those dividuals they seem to be operating, at ast from what i know, i'm not onhe inside anymore, but at least loking to lynn -- bin lade or al qaa for inspiration but working outide. some others seem to beart of larger netwo. i'll pticularly itrigued by the arrests in new york and denver. zazzy makes his way back ver there for traing. was he a zealot or jiaddist before h got here? which is a reminder, we've been welcoming ople across our shores for a long time a one

ofhe biggest challenged we have is th notion that there might be stl terorists ong us who have be here for a while. tavis: you will rell some months ago joe biden, our vice prident, made the coment, pame -- i'm paraphrasing, tha he knew the oba administration wasoing to get tested, he w speaking in terms of a terrorist attack. i wa to take that comment and ask whether or not wh we are seeingow has to do with the fact that there going to be a testng of barak obama on this isse of total errorism. could joe den have been righ >> poor e biden got hit from a lot of sources whehe made that observation but i you lookack historically, presidts do get tested i the fit year or two in many different ys and right now presidenobama is confronted th several tests,dealing with the recent disclosure of a secret nuclear fcility in

iran, the ontinuingchallenge with north korea, th huge domestic and he and now on top of allthat there seem to be percoting to the surfa some of tse f.b.i. investigations which seem to suggt there may be domestic terrorists wthin. tavis: two questions aut president oba. one, he has made the most news of his adminiration so far aroundhis international agenda the last week. what's yousense of how he is ndling the chalnges you have just laid out on he international front? >> well, i think hisability, it was, i'm surit was accidental in the sense that they were ogether at the united nations and later athe g-20 with theleaders from france andgermany and he lik and that unitefront on against iran i think rojects a very strong message of multilateralism and hopelly very aggressive and anctions if theiranians don'tcomply. so with regard o that

rticular challenge hat he's nfronted with now, so far so good. the meetg is amazi. they're going to meet today in neva and the iraans other greed to--agreed t talk about nuclear ises but ot about their nuclear apirations or capabilities. with respect to ira, strong multileral leadership it's a chance to answer the qstion he asked i the primary campaign, who dyou want answering the phone at tk n -- 2:00 in the morni. unfortunely it rang now. tavis: and your though about the pushck that former vice president dick chey has been delivering agast the admistration about the issue of security and safety and terroris and you know thadrills down awfulldeep. >> first o all, th regard to terrorism generly i dn't see

too many operational differences presently withn the administration as conducts military affairin afghanistan and in iraq. i think agan the net test, agaianother test, is what is this president, what i presidt obama's strategic view and at will be -- he sess are the operational needs of the military and what yi -- he goods -- going to dabout afghnistan? what's the lg-term goal there? he saibefore we're not going to allow the taliban to create a safe haen in afghanistan. time will te. secretary politano is contuing to move and do all those things very appropriate to deal withomestic terrorism. the f.b.i.s obviously still focused and centered as the domestic terrorismunit. the onearea i disagree with is that wwould have a speal prosecut go back and taka

look at at and posibly criminalize condt of interrogators from four or five years ago. i'm on bard saying waterboarding is torture, but i dot think you ought to crinalize it. if he ants to change he interrogation techiques that's their proressative bui don't think they -- rerogative but i don't think they ought to go backand criminalize anyone before. tavis:ut if the truth of e matter is tht the bush administrationrote that lauage such that it would nt be crimina if you n't want to g after the people ngaged in the terror, and week debate that, what's wrong with going after the pele that authoriz it in the first place? >> i tnk obviously as an attorney b professn you can just like several wiesses at the scene ofn automobile accident, hey may view

diffences of opinion in what they saw. rellections are different. the reason u end upetting cases to the supre court of the united states is that lawyers have opposg views. it doesn't mean they led or anything. i just don't think that ven holding, peronally holdi attorneys with regrd to their interpretion of the law post-9/11 word obviouly conflicts with president obama's, it doest need to be a crimin act. attorns differ all the time. tavis: i hear you point of view on it. to the book here. one of the things you argue here, i'm paraphrasing yor argument, is that whether or not we are safe on- or no depends in large part on the economy. explain that. >> i thinkhat america's fute -- future in the wold and ts security in e world are ted to ourrelationships around the rld. econy and -- well, prosperity

d security ar intertwined more so than everin the 21st centurand i might ay in perpetuity. we need be more onnected to the rest of the world, not less and political and economic isolationism, the y america crowd, that point of view whetr from the right or left i think undermines the long-term bestnterests of the untry. because te economy, rosperity and security do intersec at the rder. right after 9/11, the pesident call me in and sd we did a good job alt certain borders, canada and xico, but we broughcommerce to a screeching halt. youcan raise the level of security to a level where you inhibit ongoing lationships th the rest of the world. i don't think that's in ou be interests.

tavi and you lk a lo about immigration and onthing that troubles me,i get sick and tireof be hearing people suggt we got to secure the borders onexico don south so th terrorists don' come our country d there's no evidence ever that a trrorist has come infrom down suth. your thoughts on that? >> i thinkit's a legitimte argument and it may be reason not to deal with the overall probm, but my judgment is yu don't ly need a system,you need enforcement. people can go back and forh across the border. i talk about that in the bok. my concern would be if there is an infastructure that allws undocument the workers across every year, can that ame system be ed to bring across rrorists? yes. it can be used to bring acro arms or drugs or weapons. s. but the bottom lie is there

was nver anything -- we viewed that was crediblehat that was an avenue the terrists tried to exploit. tavis: in the 30 seconds left, givethese arrestof late, all these ople being arrestedho wanto do us harm, your word to the american pple right now is what? >> it' a real threa foreign or domestic. but it's maneable the let's ju make sure we resorce those respsible for our safety. i ke some very strong recommendationand one of the criticisms of things we cou have done a long time ag but so remind ourselves that in a historal context, we under the reat of a nuclear war -- remember, we had thousands f missil pointed at the soviet union and they had a lot pointed at u-- but under that we did a lot of great things in this coury. the was a civil rights movement. weaised the andard of

living uike anything else in the world. so it's a real threat. let's nobe breathless abo it. but do all ose thingse need to dondovernment has so many other resonsibilities. weill manage it well. the re test of the times is making surewe mnage it nsistent with the execution -- constitutioand rule of laume >> tom rinl's bookis called the -- book ok. thanyou for being th us. >> thank you. tavis: up next, dam arkin. stay with us. tas: adam arkin is an emmy 478 -- emmy-nominated actr who starred for ix easons on the very popular series "chicago hopeand on the fx series "sons anarchy". you n catch him in thenew coen brothers film tt opens this weekend. here now a scene from "a serious man". >> legally i have to warn u th it is never easy or the

husband unless course here is some question of the wife having violad the marriage contct. >> oh, no, no, othing like that. although she is planning to marry sy aeman. >> sy ableman? >> yes, but -- >> he is tey are is barely ld. --ster is barely col. she passed three yearsago. >> but this changes the compxion, larry. >> nt in the sense --there hasn't bee hanky-panky, to my knowledge. tavis: i like that, "to my knledge." good to e you. we wre talking before we came on t air and i was asking how your father is and y said he s doing very well >> he said to send hs a -- regards. tavis: senhim as well. sent -- saw him last year just before won that academy award.

i raise that only becaus i recall in that conversion with the delightful conversation wh your father, i recall asking whher or not he discouraged y from getting into ating andi act -- asked that specifically beause he said he kew at he wanted to be an actor but didn' get his first gig untilhe was 28. long stretch before heot his first gig so i asked whether he discouraged u. he gave his answer. but tell mwhat yourecall about wting to be an actor, when that hiyou? >> i was probably aout 11 years old when i knew -- tavis: a f years behind your dad. a few years, yeah. >> i was in acti classes as a kid and i'm su a lot f it had to do with, youknow, really worshipb him and waning to be connected with him. ididn't live with him fr the time i w 5 until i was 11 and i safrom a kiss ns --

distance while longing be back wit him, i also saw hm go from being comletely unployed actor to becomg an ternational star. and the comnation of already missing him and en seeing that transition take place was very -- it was very intoxicatingyou know. it made me want to be apart of that and i tnk primarily ot so much t be like him as tobe connected him. tavis: i hear that distinction, yeah. w does itfeel for you toe as accomplished you are n this business longside your father? his winning the acemy awad, must be a prtty nic feling, father a son to have oth made a name for themselves in this indury. >> what i am happiest bout, more tn the external recognition, which is great thing and i don't take that for anted but it hasended up being a source f connection

with him. it something we can talk out and we share conversations abou you know, the business and the caft and out how we navigate andkeep our sanity pursuing this career. and i love that. it is i many ways, it isthe faly business and show business it ses it one of the few ars where thas viewed with suspici and a lt of assumption but in any other busins it's sort of fine if you go into the family biness. tavis:o myknowledge, 've never me the coen brothe but i fl like i know thembecause erybody i know wants to work with them at some point. >> y. vis: why is tha? i think primarilbecause of the quality of their work. the bo of their work just shows a tremendous, ell, startewith tremendous taent and hasshown remendous

evolution and llingness to taken challenge in their work . i think hey are very much actors' directors. they're brilliant writers, brilliant filmmake and ha found a way ofworking tha i think reallyrings out the best in the people that they choose to collaboratewith and th create an enironment that simultaneously very structured a specifi but also encouraging o being surprised. you know? tavi yes. tell me about "a serious n" and the roleou play in it. >> "a serious man" s about a physic profess named lary gopnik livng in sububan minneapolis in the 1960'swith his family andhis life essentially starts falli

apart. his wife tells himhe wants a divorce and a number ofother ings start going terribly ong and he has ts sort of existencial crisis in whch he starts seeng spiritual advice, emotional advice, legal vice from a variety of people, none of whoms partularly helpful to him ad the crisis sort ofeepens as the film goes on. i play his divoce attorney who, while very on he surface ve officiousand cring is really not of muc use in the longun. tavis: when i watcyou in movies or wat you on tevision, "sons of anarchy" or whatever it mighte, i know that you dect because see yourame a lot oftimes in grey's anatomy shows you direct, w do you behave yourself, as it we? keep in mind whathat youre wearing wh you are acting versus directing oh, i -- it's not that much of a challenge.

i an i have found - one of the reasons i think istarted directinand graitated tords doing tha was becaus even when i was actng i was terested in probem-solving and recogning where asan tor i could ctribute to he complexities of a scene ing diminish to some extent. and i think th proucers i stard working for reconized that that -- tat i sort ofhad a little bit me of a macro view towards weigh was doing and th sort of transitned into directing opportities. but it didn'ttake lon to direct some uff to understand that as an actor it's very good let directors follow ther own vision andtay out of their way. you can cerinly make suggestionand ask questions but at a certain pint youave

toet them do ther thing. vis: you don't feel the pinc to say, whenyou're acting, "i really should say to him x, y or z?" i will alwaymake suggestis that fall within the purview of, i think, i hope, what is approprie for an actor to be suggesting in terms of locking or a move at might work or something that might lp solve a problem but i won't overst that lin. i thk i have a pretty ood idea where that line is. if anything, gettingo direc mylf has made me more aware of that and iwant to there to help director fulll his vion the tavis: have o many questios i want to come back to, ut you're a serio -- busy guy. you are actig, drthing, wn you can. tell me about "sons anarchy" for those who haven't seen that series. "sons of anarchy"? it's a uffle, hard-tting

series ofx abot a moorcycle gang. it tak place in a fictious town in nortrn california, a charming clifornia -- ron perlman pls the head of te gang. his stepso is sot of the heir apparent, the son of katie segal's character who rried to ron perlman and is going to be the next leader of e club and wen that's ging to take place, nobody really know there are politil struggles within the otorcycle gang itself and this season am playing the nemesisof the gang, who is a whiteeparatist who comes in bust opethis club and sorof makea power ab for his own purposes. and i getto work with henry rollinas my right-hand man, who is jt a great guy. it's agreat showgreat company of actors d it's bee

a wild ride the tavis:yeah. i guess it's n part bcause you'reuch a good actor t how do one gobout playing, much less acceptin the rol of beina while the separatt? >> it'just m job. vis: somebody's got to do it huh? >>ou know, i - there is very little, thankfully, on a peonal level that i can relate to in thespecifics of that chacter but the job of an acor is to sort of find, i think, crealingses -- correangses, thigs that you can substitu and rference i your own life tt hook up whatever the character is to, no mattr how einous tt may be. anthe most interesting bad guys to me are peoplethat

believe passiate. ly in some morale aspect what they're doing, eve if it's horble and that's been so of the challge withthis guy. tavis: yeah. just because i'm curious before i let you go, areyou a motorcyc thus yaft? >>'m a motcycle thus yaft. i don't ride. i'm ver enthusiaic about peoplehat feel passionately about . vis: but you're not getting on? >> no. i rode a dirt bi when i was a kid. in "sons of anarchy" tere are gorgeous bikeseverywhere. i was like, can i sit on tis? yeah. and i put the kickstand up and it was like oh, my god they' heavy! that's a l of hrsepower to be sitti on top of andi've t a 4-year-old son and i want to sick round to see at least his fth birthday. tavis: you jut stick tothe light saratist and stay in

ur line -- lae. >> if i have you bessing. tavi i'm sure that will be a youtube clip in about ve minutes. "tavis smiley encouges adam arkin toemain awhite separatist." >> youo know thatthis is a role! tavis: yes. adam arki, a great actor and you can catch him in t new coenrothers film, "a serious man" and in the seies "sons of anarchy" and if you pay attentioto credits you see hiname in credts of your favorite shows. tell your dad i said hello. >> i surwill. tavis: thats -- that'st for tonight. i'll see y back here next ti on s. thanks for wating, and always, keep t faith. >> for more informati on today's ow, visit tavis smiley at pbs.org the tavis: join next time with emmy winni spotscaster james

brown and the mexic uitar duo. that next time. we'll see you then. >>here are so many things thatal-mart is lookng forwarto doing, like helping ople live better bt mostly we'relooking foard to helping people buildtronger lationships and communities because with youhelp the best is yet to come. >> natioide insurance proudly supports tvis smiley. tavis and natioide insurance -- working timprove financial liracy and the emporment that ces with it. >> nionwide is on your side. >> and by cntributions to your pbs stationrom viers like you. thank you. caioned by the national captioning institute --www.ncicap.org--

sturbed.

i can't go back.