David returned to his alma mater, American University's School of International Service, to interview Michael Oren, Israel's Ambassador to the United States, in a "Meet the Press at SIS" event last week. The event centered on the 50-year anniversary of John F. Kennedy's famous AU Commencement address, "A Strategy of Peace." David reflected on the impact that Kennedy's speech has had for American presidents looking at the country's most serious security dilemmas in the last 50 years, in the video above. 

And during his spirited Meet the Press-style interview with Ambassador Oren, David further questioned the Ambassador on Kennedy's foreign policy vision and how it applies to peace in the Middle East today, as you can watch above. Oren stressed the importance of strong leadership from both Israel and the United States, and warned of threats from Iran and Syria.

And in Part 2 below, David and Amb. Oren responded to questions from students and twitter users, discussing the United States' involvement in the region. Oren said that America's future leaders should know that "there is no going home ... America will remain deeply, and profoundly involved in the Middle East." 

Watch David's takeaways from this morning's MTP above and don't miss the full recap of today's show from NBC's Carrie Dann here. 

As the Obama administration grapples with evidence that chemical weapons may have been used in conflict-torn Syria, officials on both sides of the political aisle urged President Barack Obama Sunday to move towards arming rebels against Syrian president Bashar al-Assad, a position once rejected by a White House reluctant to commit to military involvement in the rebellion.  

But lawmakers also warned that U.S. forces must be careful that weapons do not fall into the hands of radical Islamist groups.  

"Our problem in who to supply is that some of these groups are strong Islamists, Al Qaeda and others," Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy said on NBC's Meet the Press. "And we've seen -- like in Libya, Egypt and elsewhere -- that Islamists tend to get the upper hand if they get in there."

"If we know the right people to get them, my guess is we'll get [weapons] to them," he added.

Former House Homeland Security chair Rep. Peter King, a Republican, similarly warned on CNN's State of the Union program that Al Qaeda has "a lot of control within the rebel movement."

"Obviously Assad is evil, and everyone’s interested he go," King said. "But if we are going to arm the rebels, we have to make sure that those arms are not going to end up in the position of Al Qaeda supporters, nor at the end game is Al Qaeda going to be in a position to take over this movement.”

Rep. Tom Cotton, a Republican member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, expressed optimism on NBC's Meet the Press that "we are moving closer to arming the reform-minded pro-Western rebels."

"This is something that should have been done many months ago," he added, also voicing support for a no-fly zone using aircraft and naval gunfire. 

Former Rep. Jane Harman, who now serves as the head of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, told NBC's David Gregory that there's "no chance" that the United States will have "boots on the ground" in Syria but that the complexities of the region's humanitarian and security issues must be addressed  with support for the rebels. 

"This is a big, escalated problem," Harman added. "I wish we had acted sooner."

Obama said last August that the use of chemical weapons in Syria would be a "red line" that - if crossed - would "change my calculus" on military intervention in the region.

“We have been very clear to the Assad regime but also to other players on the ground that a red line for us is [if] we start seeing a whole bunch of weapons moving around or being utilized," the president said at the time. 

A new report Sunday from the New York Times indicated that some Obama advisers were taken aback by that "unscripted" comment.

This story was originally published on Sun May 5, 2013 10:53 AM EDT

 Special discussion: American foreign policy, and the debate over national security and civil liberties

• Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT) issued a statement this week supporting a renewed call to close the Guantanamo Bay detention facility, expressing his concern that it “remains open, and that Congress continues to stand in the way of closing it.” The facility, according to the senator, is “unnecessary, expensive and inefficient ... it is not necessary to keep America safe, it contradicts our most basic principles of justice, and in fact it undermines our national security.” He is also chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, the committee which held hearings on some of the major issues in Congress this year including gun control legislation, and now, comprehensive immigration reform. According to The New York Times, the issues before Judiciary Committee thus far in 2013 make this “perhaps Mr. Leahy’s biggest moment after 38 years in the Senate.” Watch his most recent appearance on Meet the Press.
• Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani (R) said there is an “institutionalized political correctness to the detriment of the safety of the American people” when it comes to talking about Islamic jihad terrorism in the U.S. According to Giuliani, Islamic jihad terrorists are “killing Americans for a purpose. … And if you don't recognize the purpose, it's very, very hard to detect them. It's very hard to keep a coherent program of monitoring them, watching them. This is not just terrorism for terrorism sake. This is terrorism to further the cause of Islamic extremism and that does not demean in any way legitimate members of the Islamic religion. I think if you don't understand that, there is a certain degree of prejudice.” He also wrote “Leadership.” Watch his latest MTP appearance here.
• Former. Congresswoman and Ranking Member of the House Intelligence Committee Jane Harman (D-CA) is now the director, president and CEO of the Wilson Center. Earlier this week, she said the situation in Syria is unlike Iraq. The intelligence failure there “was a long time ago. We have improved the way we do intelligence… while there is a range of certainty across the intelligence community, they all believe there are chemical weapons there and it’s time to roll out the contingency plan. We’ve done the vetting. Now we need to act.” Watch her most recent MTP appearance.
• Rep. Tom Cotton (R-AR) is a veteran of the Iraq and Afghanistan Wars and Politico called him the GOP’s “most aggressive next-generation advocate for military action overseas,” who is the “best hope for bringing the party back toward its post-Sept. 11 consensus on foreign policy.”

Special discussion: The president’s second-term agenda

• Former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich (R-GA) released a statement this week, which read in part, “It would be a major mistake to put American troops in Syria. No one in the region wants us invading yet another country. None of our allies want our strength diverted from Iran. There is no practical mission American forces could accomplish without a very large commitment. … If the neighbors are not sufficiently worried to act, however, the United States should not be drawn in to acting for them.” He co-wrote “Rediscovering God in America.” Watch Speaker Gingrich’s latest appearance here.
• Former Rep. Harold Ford (D-TN) recently said he doesn’t “believe the White House will sit idly by. … This president, whatever you want to say about him, has been as strong and has been as resolute as any president on international matters, has use what some would call morally dubious methods including drones to enact his national security policy. The ball is now the president’s court, the white House’s court. They have defined what has to happen for action to take place. Now they have to define what that action will be.” He is also the author of “More Davids Than Goliaths.” Watch his latest show appearance.
• Rich Lowry, editor of The National Review, wrote Friday about President Obama’s recent address before Planned Parenthood. Lowry wrote, “The right to abortion is the sneakiest, most shamefaced of all American rights. It hides behind evasion and euphemism and cant …. The unwritten rule when the Left discusses abortion is that it shouldn’t be called ‘abortion,’ but always ‘health’ or, more specifically ‘reproductive health’ — although abortion is the opposite of reproduction and, for one party involved, the opposite of health.” He is the author of “Lincoln Unbound.” Watch his most recent appearance on the show.
• Joy Reid, managing editor of TheGrio.com and political columnist for The Miami Herald, said there is this idea that “it is something about Barack Obama that’s causing this obstruction [in Congress]. … as if there`s something about his personality that is stopping them from behaving.” However, she said it has become the primary focus of some GOP members: “There’s a reason why you’re seeing pundits calling [Repubulicans] a post-policy party because the only thing they all agree on is that they dislike, despise and want to dislodge this president. That’s their only policy agenda. You see it with everything, with immigration where he can’t touch it otherwise it can’t pass. This is not about dinners. This is about a party that dislikes the president.” Watch her most recent appearance here.

• Brendon Ayanbadejo is a former linebacker for the Baltimore Raven and an advocate for same-sex marriage. He said, "I think the star power, especially with athletes, allows us to hit a demographic. ... I think this allows us to have our voice reach a little bit deeper to people who wouldn't normally hear our message."

Follow these guests on Twitter:

• Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT): @SenatorLeahy
• Rep. Tom Cotton (R-AR): @RepTomCotton
• Newt Gingrich: @newtgingrich
• Harold Ford: @HFord2
• Rich Lowry: @RichLowry
• Joy Reid: @TheReidReport
• Brendon Ayanbadejo: @brendon310

Also follow @CarrieNBCNews, @davidgregory, and @meetthepress for updates during the show.

Senator John McCain (R-AZ) said this morning that sending American troops to Syria in response to Syrian leader Bashar Assad's reported use of chemical weapons would be "the worst thing the United States could do right now," because it would "turn the [Syrian] people against us."

However, the Arizona Republican did say that, should the Assad regime fall, the United States should "be prepared with an international force to go in and secure these stocks of chemical, and perhaps biological, weapons."

There was broad agreement among our guests that the United States has to act. Rep. Keith Ellison (D-MN) proclaimed "I don't think the world's greatest super power, the United States, can stand by and do nothing."

Similarly, Rep. Peter King (R-NY) argued "Once the United States lays out a red line, some action has to be taken."

You can watch the entire program on our website including our roundtable discussion about the legacy of President George W. Bush, and, as David describes above, the "moderator's dilemma" he had to confront today.

We'll be back next week. If it's Sunday, it's Meet the Press. 

In an exclusive interview with David Gregory, former British Prime Minister Tony Blair discusses what it was like to work up-close with President George W. Bush and reflects on the day's ceremony dedicating the 43rd president's library, calling the gathering of all five living U.S. presidents a "great advertisement for America."

Before becoming the moderator of Meet the Press, David covered the White House for all eight years of the Bush Presidency. And he was back reporting on the former president’s legacy for NBC News this week, as all eyes turned to Dallas for the dedication of the new George W. Bush Presidential Library at Southern Methodist University…

On Nightly News Thursday, David reported on the day that brought together the world’s most exclusive club -- all five living presidents -- for what was, at times, an emotional tribute to the 43^rd president.

On MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell Reports earlier, David reflected on that poignant presidential moment when Bush addressed first responders at Ground Zero…

On TODAY, David joined Matt Lauer to discuss President Bush’s turn back the spotlight, reporting that the debate still rages over the former president’s legacy four years later.

Watch the video below for David’s Wednesday Nightly News report on the most significant points of the Bush Presidency that he covered firsthand for eight years.

Plus, our special edition of PRESS Pass kicked off the week’s coverage, as David interviewed five of President Bush’s most trusted White House advisers.

And don’t miss David’s interview with one of the former president’s closest foreign allies, UK Prime Minister Tony Blair, on Meet the Press this Sunday.

On the eve of the George W. Bush Presidential Library and Museum's dedication, former chief of staff to the president Josh Bolten insists the new center on the campus of Southern Methodist University is not an “advocacy piece” trying reshape history. Rather, he and other top former aides view it as a display of the difficult decisions their former boss had to make.

“It's very Bush," Bolten said, alluding to the sure-footed “decider” mantra that dominated the 43^rd president’s time in office. “Here are the facts that I saw. Here are the principles that I applied. And here’s the decision I made. You make your own decision,” he said, channeling his former boss.

"Presidents don't have the luxury of making easy decisions," said Bolten’s chief of staff predecessor Andy Card. 

Bolten and Card joined former counselor to the president Dan Bartlett and chief of staff to First Lady Laura Bush, Anita McBride, in Dallas for a special edition of PRESS Pass from the SMU campus.  

The war in Iraq, the president’s economic record, and the September 11^th terror attacks are chief among the critical “decision points” of the Bush presidency being re-visited this week.

Bartlett said, because of terror attacks of September 11th 2001, President Bush will be remembered as a wartime president.

The attacks, Card argued, were so influential that "the mindset of governing had changed" in their aftermath. 

"It wasn't just about reflecting on what had happened," he said. "You actually had to be proactive to prevent the next attack."

September 11^th also highlighted the president's responsibility as "the temporary custodian of our safety," McBride believes. "Every president from that point forward... will have that responsibility."

President Bush’s economic record has also come under scrutiny from both Democrats and Republicans alike. Josh Bolten argued that criticisms of the administration’s fiscal policies were “unfair” and Bartlett said the center's opening allowed former Bush team members to provide a word of caution to their fellow party members. 

"I think it would behoove certainly the Republican Party not to continue... with criticism of a record that really wasn't so bad. This occasion provides us an opportunity to say just that."

Watch the entire PRESS Pass interview above to hear more about the Bush legacy including why they believe the rise in technological communications has hurt our public and private institutions.