Education
Silliman received his Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy (1965) and his Juris Doctor (1968) from University of North Carolina.
Silliman received his Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy (1965) and his Juris Doctor (1968) from University of North Carolina.
He is also an adjunct professor of law at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (University of North Carolina), and at North Carolina Central University. Silliman was a military attorney, called to active duty as an 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. During the 1991 Persian Gulf War, he supervised deployment of all Air Force attorneys.
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, National Public Radio, United States of America Today, and the New York Daily News.
"Morning Edition", National Public Radio, September 8, 2006 Interview, Cable News Network, January 14, 2003 "Separating the Sexes", The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer", Public Broadcasting Service, March 16, 1998.