Scott Silliman

Academic career

Silliman earned a bachelor's degree in philosophy at the University of North Carolina in 1965 followed by a J.D. degree in 1968. While there he participated in the ROTC program. Upon graduation, he began a 25-year career as a military lawyer, in the United States Air Force. When he retired, in 1993, he joined the faculty at the Duke Law School. He was the first Executive Director of Duke's Center on Law, Ethics and National Security, a position he held for 18 years.

Career

Silliman was a military attorney, called to active duty as an U.S. Air Force judge advocate in 1968, and later a staff judge advocate (senior attorney) and, in his last assignments, the senior attorney for Tactical Air Command and later Air Combat Command. In 1993, he retired from the Air Force as a colonel.

Silliman is an expert on national security law, military law, and the law of armed conflict.

His views have been cited in various media, including by The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Boston Globe, The Christian Science Monitor, Newsweek, The Guardian, NPR, USA Today, and the New York Daily News. In 2012 Silliman was appointed by then President Obama and later confirmed by the Senate as an appellate judge on the US Court of Military Commission Review, (USMCRC), a blue ribbon panel created solely to review rulings and verdicts from the Guantanamo Military Commissions.

During the final part of the rescue of the crew of Maersk Alabama three of the four pirates retreated to the vessel's lifeboat, taking the Captain as a hostage, together with $30,000 from the ship's safe. According to widely publicized accounts of the Captain's rescue, when snipers heard a firearms discharge, on the lifeboat, three snipers each killed one of the pirates with a single shot. It emerged, during the trial of the remaining pirate, that the Captain could hear the labored breathing of at least one injured pirate. During the trial Philip L. Weinstein said that an expert on firearms wounds who examined photos of the dead pirates said they had been shot 19 times. Weinstein argued that the SEALS had violated their obligations, under the Geneva Conventions, to refrain from further injuring enemy combatants, who were too injured to further participate in hostilities. According to Fox News Silliman defended the SEALs, stating that "the SEALs had to make the assumption that the Somalis were armed and a continuing threat. In other words, they were still combatants."

An opinion Silliman offered on the guilt of Khaled Sheikh Mohammed, and his four co-defendants, in the 9-11 Guantanamo Military Commission triggered a civilian appeals court to overrule the USCMCR. The civilian appeals court agreed with the defendants that since Silliman had voiced an opinion, in a 2010 telephone interview with the BBC two years before he was appointed to the court, that the five were guilty, that he was biased, and should have recused himself.

Works

Select articles

• "Robinson O. Everett and National Security", 59 DUKE L. J. 1447 (2010)
• "Prosecuting Alleged Terrorists by Military Commission: A Prudent Option", 42 CASE W. RES. J. INT'L L. 289 (2009)
• "On Military Commissions", 36 CASE W. RES. J. INT'L L. 529 (2004)
• "Troubling Questions in Interrogating Terrorists", 90 DUKE MAG., September–October 2004
• "Detaining Terrorists at Guantanamo Bay: Questions of Law and Policy", 25 NAT'L SEC. L. REP. 1 (2003)
• "The Iraqi Quagmire: Enforcing the No-Fly Zones", 36 NEW ENG. L. REV. 767 (2002)

Testimony to the Senate

• Testimony on Hamdan v. Rumsfield: Establishing a Constitutional Process", U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary, July 11, 2006

Major service awards

• Legion of Merit
• Meritorious Service Medal with four oak leaf clusters
• Air Force Commendation Medal with one oak leaf cluster

References

References

1. (October 19, 1999). "United Nations Anniversary dinner". The News and Observer (Raleigh, N.C.).
2. (April 29, 2010). "Former Air Force Deputy Judge Advocate General to join Duke Law faculty July 1". 0-www.law.duke.edu.library.law.suffolk.edu.
3. "Scott L. Silliman". Law.unc.edu.
4. (January 31, 2010). "NCCU – School of Law – Faculty Listings". Web.nccu.edu.
5. (August 31, 1993). "Scott L. Silliman". Law.duke.edu.
6. (May 16, 1999). "The Virginian-Pilot Archives". Nl.newsbank.com.
7. Prior, Richard. (September 11, 2001). "Balancing prosecution and protection – The Daily Record – Jacksonville, Florida". Jaxdailyrecord.com.
8. (February 16, 2006). "ProfNet Experts Round-Up: Detention of Terror Suspects". Newswise.com.
9. (December 6, 2008). "Contractors Indicted After Probe Into Shooting That Killed 17 Iraqi Civilians". washingtonpost.com.
10. (January 16, 2009). "Court Affirms Wiretapping Without Warrants". The New York Times.
11. (November 23, 2005). "Charges shift the fight on Padilla, He is indicted, but not in the "dirty bomber"case. Some say Justice was aiming to avoid a defeat.". Philadelphia Inquirer.
12. Shane, Scott. (November 1, 2007). "Nominee's Stand May Avoid Tangle of Torture Cases". The New York Times.
13. Heard on All Things Considered. (November 15, 2005). "Guantanamo Case Awaits High Court Ruling". NPR.
14. "Correspondents Report – Hicks in legal limbo". Abc.net.au.
15. (September 12, 2008). "Army: Failures in pregnant soldier's death - Military- NBC News". NBC News.
16. Suzanne Goldenberg in Washington. (November 10, 2008). "Obama legal advisers draft plans for Guantánamo Bay prison | World news | guardian.co.uk". Guardian.
17. (9 May 2008). "News | Killing by the numbers". Salon.com.
18. Kaplan, Eben. (January 25, 2006). "Q&A: Targeted Killings". The New York Times.
19. (January 16, 2009). "Court ruling buoys case for wiretaps". The New York Times.
20. (November 2, 2008). "Cases Against Detainees Have Thinned". washingtonpost.com.
21. Vicini, James. (October 1, 2006). "New terrorism trial rules could face Supreme Court scrutiny – The Boston Globe". Boston.com.
22. (December 15, 2009). "Guantanamo detainees on US soil: a legal minefield". CSMonitor.com.
23. Michael Hirsh. (5 August 2008). "Hirsh: Why the Hamdan Verdict is Big Loss for Bush – Michael Hirsh". Newsweek.com.
24. Suzanne Goldenberg in Washington. (November 11, 2008). "Closing down detention centre 'not so easy' | World news". The Guardian.
25. (February 15, 2010). "Terrorism Trials Pose Dilemma For U.S.". NPR.