Dr. Eric Silla has served in a variety of intelligence and policy assignments since 1998. He also has taught as an Adjunct Professor at John Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies since 2014. Dr. Silla has served as PDB Briefer to the Secretary of Commerce, Special Advisor to the Assistant Secretary for African Affairs at the Department of State, Chief of the Futures Branch in the Knowledge Development Division at the United States Africa Command, and Deputy National Intelligence Officer for Africa on the National Intelligence Council. Prior to government service, Dr. Silla taught at Georgetown and Northwestern Universities and the University of Maryland. He established a study abroad program in Mali for the School for International Training and also served as Peace Corps volunteer in Mali. Dr. Silla holds a PhD in History from Northwestern University and a BA in History and Engineering Sciences from Yale College. He also has a Public Policy Certificate from the Kennedy School of Government. His book, People are not the Same: Leprosy and Identity in Twentieth-Century Mali was awarded The Amaury Talbot Prize for African Anthropology by the Royal Anthropological Institute in 1998. Dr. Silla has varying levels of proficiency in French, Arabic, German, and Bambara.
FUNCTIONAL EXPERTISE: energy security, health and disease, humanitarian crisis, illicit commerce, insurgency and small arms conflict, intelligence, program evaluation, and religion
REGIONAL EXPERTISE: Africa and the Middle East
EMAIL: eric.silla.civ@ndu.edu