PBS NewsHour: Interview with Homeland Security secy Janet Napolitano on terrorism, immigration

JUDY WOODRUFF: Has anything else changed as a result of what was learned?

JANET NAPOLITANO: No, but I want to be very careful here.

I think what -- what we did when we got rid of the color code set of alerts -- which we did just -- ironically, just very shortly before killing bin Laden -- was, we said, look, we're always at a heightened state of alert. That is our base level. We -- we already assume into what we are doing a certain level of risks of certain kinds of attacks.

And if we receive specific or credible information on something that is imminent or something that could happen that people need to know how to protect themselves or their families, or we need them to help us look out for something, then we will raise the advisory level.

JUDY WOODRUFF: But -- but it sounds as if you are saying that has not happened in the last two weeks.

JANET NAPOLITANO: That has not. That has not. We have made -- we continue to assess 24/7. People are going through, not only that material, but other material we receive from other sources all the time.

And we have not yet been advised or have concluded that we need to raise the advisory level.

JUDY WOODRUFF: ...as long as you have this fundamental disagreement with many Republicans over whether the border is secure -- the president was saying this week, the border is sufficiently secure, that the country should move on to reform immigration. Republicans are saying it's not secure enough.

How do you bridge that in order to move forward?

JANET NAPOLITANO: Well, I think we bridge it by saying, this is -- this is not a linear progression.

You have to do both, and you have to do both simultaneously, because not having immigration reform affects what is done at the border. These things are interrelated, so that, for example, if we are to conclude, as a nation, that more individuals should have visas, they come through our ports, we know who they are, we know where they're going, how long they're allowed to stay, that diminishes the pressure to cross illegally and to cross between those ports of entry. So, these things are all related to one another.

JUDY WOODRUFF: ...Luis Gutierrez said this week, he said, the president is wrong to wait for Congress to act. He said, the president could do a number of specific things. Among other things, he said, he should say the country is not going to support the wives of U.S. soldiers.

JANET NAPOLITANO: Well, again, we -- we deal with the wives of U.S. soldiers through the visa process.

Representative Gutierrez has a view that I think the president just doesn't agree with and I don't agree with. And that is that the president, by executive fiat, can do what the Congress has not yet been able to address.