Preston M. Geren, special assistant to Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, becomes acting Secretary of the Air Force. Geren returns to his former post in March 2005, and then becomes Undersecretary of the Army, and, in 2007, Army Secretary.
The U.S. began extensive air and artillery strikes against Islamic State group targets in Syria on Dec. 19 in retaliation for the killing of three Americans on Dec. 13 by a gunman affiliated with ISIS, U.S. officials said.
