Duke Law Experts on Restarting Military Commissions
Friday, May 15, 2009
The following Duke University legal experts are available to comment on the Obama Administration’s plan regarding Guantanamo military commissions:
Scott Silliman, (919) 613-7138 or silliman@law.duke.edu. Silliman is executive director of Duke’s Center on Law, Ethics and National Security (LENS) and a 25-year veteran of the Air Force JAG. He focuses on national security, military law, and the law of armed conflict. Since 9/11 he has been a frequent commentator on issues relating to the military commissions, trial of detainees, executive power in wartime, and the use of private contractors in war zones. In July 2006 he testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee and the Senate Committee on Armed Services, arguing that Congress should use the Uniform code of Military Justice (UCMJ) as the baseline for any new system of military commissions. He reiterated that position this week in an op-ed carried by several major dailies: http://www.ajc.com/services/content/printedition/2009/05/14/sillimaned0514.html.
Madeline Morris, (919) 260-1575 or morris@law.duke.edu. Morris is former chief counsel to the Office of the Chief Defense Counsel, Office of Military Commissions, U.S. Department of Defense and now director of Duke Law School’s Guantanamo Defense Clinic. She is an expert on international criminal law, humanitarian law, and the law of war, and is a leading expert on the operation of military commissions. Morris has testified before military commissions as an expert witness and advised and worked on legal strategies, motions, and briefs in detainee litigation pending before military commissions at Guantanamo Bay and in U.S. federal courts. She is currently writing a book on counterterrorism and preventive detention, “Terror and Integrity: Preventive Detention in the Age of Jihad,” to be published by Oxford University Press.
