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And now, from the University of Chicago Institute of Politics and CNN Audio, the Ax Files, with your host, David Axelrod.

Janet Napolitano is one of the most impactful public figures I know.

She was elected Attorney General of Arizona and twice elected governor of Arizona, a state not easy for Democrats, elected by a landslide in her second term because she proved herself to be a pragmatic, thoughtful leader who could reach across party lines.

She came to Washington as Secretary of Homeland Security in the Obama administration and dealt with everything from terrorism to immigration to natural disasters.

And it's currently the president of the University of California system, the largest state public university system in the country.

She's also just written a new book called How Safe Are We Homeland Security since 9-11.

I sat down with her in Chicago recently to talk about all of this and her extraordinary career.

Janet Napolitano, it is such a pleasure to see you again.

It's good to see you, David.

Been through a lot.

Indeed.

You know, I want to talk about your new book, but before we get there, I want to talk about you and your journey through life and through politics, your New Yorker by birth, by birth.

But you weren't raised there.

Your dad was the son of an Italian immigrant.

Tell me about your family.

My dad was, as you said, the son of Italian immigrant.

He was raised in California.

My mother came from, midwestern stock and was raised in St. Louis.

They met when my dad was going to St. Louis, Umed school, and mom was working there in the lab.

I moved to New York.

Dad had a post-doc at Cornell Medical School, so I was born in Manhattan.

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