Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced on Real America’s Voice News that the Department of Defense will livestream the December 3 execution by firing squad of former Army Major Nidal Malik Hasan for the 2009 mass shooting at Fort Hood, Texas, marking the first military execution by firing squad since 1945.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth revealed plans for the execution during an interview on the conservative television outlet Real America’s Voice News.
“We’ll make sure that people are able to watch it, that’s public, because people need to understand that there’s serious consequences for these types of things,”
Pete Hegseth, US Defense Secretary, via Yahoo
Pentagon officials subsequently clarified that the proceeding will be transmitted via livestream, though specific details regarding the broadcast platform or media access remain limited. Hegseth added that it’s public because individuals need to understand that serious crimes carry severe consequences.
Court Martial and Shooting Details
The scheduled execution stems from a mass shooting at the Soldiers Readiness Processing Center at Fort Hood in November 2009. Hasan, an Army psychiatrist holding the rank of major, entered a medical building where personnel were waiting for immunizations and deployment clearance. Shouting Allahu akbar
— Arabic for God is great!
— he opened fire with a laser-sighted handgun.
The attack killed 12 active-duty soldiers and a retired serviceman, while wounding 32 others. While representing himself during the court-martial, Hasan mounted virtually no defense, informing the panel that the proof would establish his identity as the gunman and characterizing himself as a soldier who had switched sides
.
Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell noted that President Donald Trump approved the execution of Hasan, with acting US Army Secretary Adam Telle stating that the execution by firing squad will take place on December 3 at Fort Hood, Texas.
Military Executions Remain Exceptionally Rare
Capital punishment within the United States military is exceptionally rare. If carried out, Hasan’s execution will represent the first time the US military has executed a servicemember by firing squad since 1945, shortly after the end of World War Two. The last military execution took place on April 13, 1961, when Army Pvt. John Bennett was executed by hanging.
Ahead of the execution, attorneys representing Pike petitioned the Tennessee Department of Correction to explore backup options to lethal injection—such as a firing squad or hanging—citing foreseeable difficulties executioners might encounter in securing a reliable IV access point, following recent headlines regarding the botched lethal injection of convicted killer Christa Pike in Tennessee.
Hasan Retains the Right to Challenge Sentence
Eugene R. Fidell, a visiting lecturer at Yale Law School specializing in military law, explained that Hasan retains the right to challenge the sentence.
“It frankly might outlast the current administration, and who knows if the next one will have the same penchant for executions,”
Eugene R. Fidell, visiting lecturer at Yale Law School, via Yahoo