Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth confirmed on Thursday that the execution of Nidal Hasan, the former U.S. Army major convicted of the 2009 Fort Hood shooting, will be made public. The event is scheduled for December 3 at 1 p.m. at Fort Hood, Texas, and will be carried out by a firing squad.
Hegseth stated in an interview with Real America’s Voice that the execution would be broadcast to ensure transparency. “We’ll make sure that people are able to watch it, that it’s public — because people need to understand that there’s serious consequences for these types of things,” he said. The decision follows the Trump administration’s approval of the execution plan earlier this week, with Chief Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell noting that Hegseth recommended the firing squad method, which was subsequently approved by President Trump.
Hasan, a former Army psychiatrist, was convicted in 2013 for the mass shooting at Fort Hood that killed 13 people and wounded 32 others. During his trial, Hasan acknowledged responsibility for the attack, claiming he targeted fellow soldiers to protect Islamic insurgents from U.S. military forces. He was sentenced to death and has been held on death row at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, since 2013.
This execution would mark the first use of a firing squad in a U.S. military execution since 1961, when a soldier was hanged for rape and attempted murder. It would also be the first military execution of an American service member since that time. The firing squad method was recently used in South Carolina three times last year, marking the first such executions in the U.S. since 2010.
Hasan’s legal team has not yet publicly commented on the upcoming execution. His case has faced a lengthy appeals process, including a 2024 request to the Supreme Court, where Hasan argued that his right to a public trial was violated when the court cleared the public from the proceedings. The Supreme Court has not yet ruled on the petition.