Silliman earned a bachelor's degree in philosophy at the University of North Carolina in 1965 followed by a J.D. degree in 1968.[2][6] 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.
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.[28] 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."[28]
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.[29] 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)
^ abc"Professor Scott Silliman, Duke Law School"(PDF). US Department of Defense. 2014-10-07. Archived(PDF) from the original on 2016-12-25. Retrieved 2017-08-12. Besides teaching at the law school, he served as Executive Director of Duke's Center on Law, Ethics and National Security from its inception in 1993 until July 2011, and now serves as its Director Emeritus.
^ abKaplan, Eben (January 25, 2006). "Q&A: Targeted Killings". The New York Times. Archived from the original on February 2, 2016. Retrieved February 23, 2017.
^Risen, James; Lichtblau, Eric (January 16, 2009). "Court ruling buoys case for wiretaps". The New York Times. Archived from the original on November 21, 2018. Retrieved February 23, 2017.
