Clancy on new book, bin Laden, Affleck, more

Clancy on bin Laden: "I think he has probably been dead for quite a while."

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ATLANTA, Georgia (CNN) -- His list of bestsellers includes "The Hunt for Red October," "Clear and Present Danger," "Patriot Games," and "The Sum of All Fears."

Now, Tom Clancy is out with his latest book, "Red Rabbit." This one takes place at the height of the Cold War and tells the story of young Jack Ryan trying to thwart a plot to assassinate the pope.

Clancy spoke with CNN Anchor Leon Harris in Atlanta about the book, his opinions on Washington's Homeland Security Department, Osama bin Laden and more.

LEON HARRIS: Let's talk about the book. I got a chance to have it for a couple of days. Great story. But where did this idea about assassinating the pope come from?

TOM CLANCY: It really happened, in '81, remember? It is a fictionalization of a real event. Everything in this book pretty much happened.

HARRIS: Is this a prequel to "The Hunt for Red October?"

CLANCY: It's Jack [Ryan's] early career, yes. After "Patriot Games," before "Red October," he's moving over to England, he's working on a joint CIS and MI6 liaison team and then he gets wrapped into this operation.

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HARRIS: Will this make a good movie?

CLANCY: Ask Paramount. They are the ones that got to buy it.

Blurring the picture

HARRIS: The president of the U.S. character in this book is Ronald Reagan. But you don't mention him by name. Why not?

CLANCY: It's just a convention of literature or fiction. You just keep things a little bit vague. So you are not strictly tied down to real events or real personalities, you can kind of blur the picture a little bit.

HARRIS: Let me ask you about the current climate, today. This book is set back in 1983. I would think what is going on right now with this war against terrorism, does that give you some good story ideas?

CLANCY: Yes, I have written three terrorism books already. That may be enough. But I really haven't thought about it. I started working on this, I guess, about a year ago really. And, in between, a lot of bad things happened. I was supposed to [go to] New York on [September] 10th, but went home. I was supposed to fly over to Europe the end of that week. But I ended up not doing it -- flying over -- until February.

Bureaucracy, the FBI and CIA

HARRIS: What do you make of what is happening right now in Washington, with this formulation of the Homeland Security Department?

CLANCY: I don't know that I'm entirely comfortable with it. You don't make the a government more efficient by adding a bureaucracy; you make it more efficient by deleting beauracracies. I don't know that the president's really made his case for that, and when he does, I will pay attention.

HARRIS: How much more do you want to hear from the administration on that?

CLANCY: What the mission is, what the objective is, and what he expects the new agency to do.

HARRIS: What do you make of the talk about how much control this agency would have over the FBI and CIA?

CLANCY: The FBI is part of the Department of Justice. It says that on the seal. And it's worked fairly well. The Bureau is one of the parts of government that actually does work fairly well. And I don't think it needs to be fiddled with too much.

Cold War themes

HARRIS: Getting back to the book -- we talked a moment ago about "The Hunt for Red October." That was your first book and made a great movie. I think I have got two copies at home, one VHS and one DVD. And I asked you about this one. But we are looking now at some scenes from that movie, as a matter of fact.

These Cold War themes: How much longer do you think people will be interested in that?

CLANCY: The first one of those I haven't written since 1986 -- so give me a break.

HARRIS: Well, this may be your first one, but there are others that are out there.

CLANCY: Well, it's a real event, it really happened. There really was a country called the Soviet Union that didn't like us very much. That is fair game for writing a book.

Clancy on bin Laden

HARRIS: One more question I have to ask you about the war. Do you think Osama bin Laden is alive?

CLANCY: I think he has probably been dead for quite a while. The guy had heart and kidney problems before all this hoorah started. I'm part-owner of the Orioles, and we had a bunch of -- 70 or so -- troopers back from Afghanistan for that opening game when we beat the Yankees and I wouldn't want those kids chasing me anywhere. They are very formidable. So I just don't see him successfully dragging a dialysis machine up the hills of Afghanistan.

HARRIS: That would be a sight.

Affleck or Ford?

DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Can I ask a small question on behalf of moviegoers. I saw, this summer, with Ben Affleck playing Jack Ryan. So now it's kind of turned into this almost like a Bond kind of debate, Ben Affleck versus Harrison Ford. Yes, who do you like?

CLANCY: I think Ben's doing just fine. He was down at the house awhile back. He would not consent to taking the part without getting my blessing, which I thought was a remarkably generous thing for him to do.

KAGAN: So he has that?

CLANCY: Yes, definitely. We hit if off great. He is a fabulous young guy. He has got more talent than he needs, a huge future ahead of him.

KAGAN: And a writer as well. You have that in common.

CLANCY: And he listens, always a sign of intelligence, a person who listens.

HARRIS: When you watch your work played out on the big screen, does that affect you at all?

CLANCY: Sometimes it is good. Sometimes it's not so good. I thought that Ben could not have done much better with the material that he had. He has got a lot of talent, and he's got a huge future in front of him. We will be working together in the future. I'm delighted.

HARRIS: What is your project now? What are you working on right now?

CLANCY: My golf swing, which really needs the help. Believe me, Tiger Woods I ain't.

HARRIS: You don't have to worry about bouncing back. You are already at the head of the pack. Tom Clancy, thank you much for the time.