The Pentagon Says the Fort Hood Shooter’s Execution Will Be Livestreamed. The Army Has Not Executed Anyone Since 1961.
On Monday the Pentagon announced that Nidal Hasan, the former Army psychiatrist who killed 13 people at Fort Hood in 2009, will be executed by an Army firing squad. Acting Army Secretary Adam Telle announced the date, Thursday, Dec. 3, at 1 p.m. CT at Fort Hood, according to Reuters, and on Thursday a Pentagon official confirmed that the execution will be livestreamed.
If it goes forward, it would be the first military execution since 1961 and the first by firing squad since 1945.
- 13killed, 32 woundedat the Fort Hood readiness center on Nov. 5, 2009 — Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell via Reuters
- Dec. 31 p.m. CTexecution date and time set by Acting Army Secretary Adam Telle — Reuters
- 1961last military executionPvt. John Bennett, hanged at Fort Leavenworth — Reuters via Military Times
- 1945last firing squadPvt. Eddie Slovik, shot in France on Jan. 31 — Reuters via Military Times
- 2015Purple Hearts awardedafter the Army reversed its earlier workplace-violence position — NPR
Parnell announced Monday on social media that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth had recommended death by Army firing squad and that President Donald Trump (R) had approved it. “Judgement day for Hasan has finally come,” he wrote. The Secretary of the Army sets the time and place, Parnell said, and Telle has now done so.
The livestream came Thursday. Reuters reports that an anonymous Pentagon official confirmed the plan and said details would follow. Hegseth, on the Human Events Daily podcast, said: “We’ll make sure that people are able to watch it, that it’s public.” Reuters reports that he called the choice to hold it on a Thursday at 1 p.m. at Fort Hood, matching the day, time and place of the 2009 shooting, a “no-brainer.” Army regulation requires at least two news outlets to witness an execution, ABC News reports; a public stream goes well beyond that, and CBS News notes the last public U.S. execution it cites was a 1936 hanging in Kentucky.
On Nov. 5, 2009, Hasan, then an Army psychiatrist and major, opened fire at the Soldier Readiness Processing Center at Fort Hood. Twelve soldiers and one civilian were killed, among them a pregnant soldier, and 32 people were wounded. Police shot Hasan and he was left paralyzed from the waist down, according to Straight Arrow News.
He represented himself at his 2013 court-martial, acknowledged he was the shooter and was convicted on 13 counts of premeditated murder and 32 counts of attempted murder. Reuters reports he told the court he acted in support of the Taliban. A military jury recommended death. He is 56 and one of four men on the Army’s death row at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. The Supreme Court declined last year to hear his claim that the judge violated his right to a public trial, CBS News reports.
Army policy calls for an execution no sooner than 60 days and no later than 150 days after presidential approval, ABC News reports. The reports we reviewed do not give the date of the President’s approval. Straight Arrow News reports that Hasan can still challenge his sentence in federal court, which could delay the execution for years, and CBS says it reached out to his attorney, who had no comment. The date is a target, not a certainty.
The Army has been preparing for this. ABC News reported in June that an internal plan called “Operation Resolute Justice,” issued in February, directs officials to work with the Federal Bureau of Prisons to move condemned soldiers from Fort Leavenworth to the federal facility in Terre Haute, Indiana. The announced plan instead has the execution at Fort Hood. The Justice Department said earlier this year that officials should consider firing squads among other methods, and South Carolina used one three times last year, CBS reports.
“We'll make sure that people are able to watch it, that it's public.”
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth — Human Events Daily, via Reuters
The Defense Department did not classify the attack as terrorism. NPR reported in 2015 that the department had denied Purple Hearts to the victims because it treated the attack as workplace violence, during the administration of President Barack Obama (D). Congress wrote a provision into the 2015 defense bill requiring a review, and on Feb. 6, 2015, Army Secretary John McHugh told Congress the attack met the new criteria.
Victims received the Purple Heart or the Defense of Freedom Medal that spring, and FOX 4 reports the honor carries combat-related services and increased retirement benefits. Victims’ attorney Reed Rubinstein said the White House and the Pentagon’s political leadership had pushed the workplace-violence label for five years; that is his characterization, not a finding. What is documented is that the medals, and the benefits that come with them, arrived more than five years after the attack.
Donald Trump (R) — President; approved the firing squad.
Pete Hegseth — Defense Secretary in the Trump administration; recommended it and said the execution will be public.
Adam Telle — Acting Army Secretary in the Trump administration; set the date, time and place.
Sean Parnell — Chief Pentagon spokesman; announced the decision.
Barack Obama (D) — President when the attack occurred and when the Pentagon withheld Purple Hearts.
Established: Hasan was convicted and sentenced to death in 2013; the President approved a firing squad; the Army has set Dec. 3 at Fort Hood; a Pentagon official says it will be livestreamed, and on Oct. 9 the President answered “Absolutely” when asked whether he approved, while saying a determination on the broadcast was still to be made. Not established: how the stream will work, which Pentagon office will run it, and whether a federal court will stop the date. Geoffrey Corn, a Texas Tech law professor and former Army JAG officer, told CBS the plan “raises significant moral questions, above and beyond the questions related to the death penalty generally.”
Asked on Friday, Oct. 9 about the plan, Donald Trump (R) answered: “Did I approve? Absolutely,” according to the Washington Post. Mediaite renders the same answer as “Absolutely I did” and headlines it as approval of the livestreamed execution. The Post reports that Trump was asked several times as he left the White House, and that on whether the execution would be broadcast he also said: “I’m going to make a determination about that, but he will be killed. He will be through firing squad.”
That leaves the mechanics open. Vice President JD Vance (R) told reporters aboard Air Force Two: “If it’s ultimately livestreamed, I’m not going to be watching it,” and said he did not know whether it would happen. FCC Chairman Brendan Carr, a Trump appointee, told CNBC the commission would “defer to Secretary Hegseth and his decisions on how to move forward.” The Post also reports that Meta has barred livestreams of capital punishment since 2019 and TikTok bans depicting “the moment of someone’s death”; no network has said it will carry a feed.
Criticism has come from both parties. Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC) called the plan “beyond disgusting” and wrote that “public executions are what oppressive dictatorships like Iran and Afghanistan do,” per the Post. Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) said it would give Hasan “the martyrdom he seeks.” The Post also reports condemnation from the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, and NPR reports statements from the top Democrats on the Armed Services committees, including Sen. Jack Reed (D-RI), who called the plan “abhorrent.” We have not seen a court filing: AP reports experts say Hasan could file a habeas petition in civilian court, which could delay the date, but none had been reported as of this update.
More than 13 years after a military jury sentenced him, the Army has set Nidal Hasan’s firing-squad execution for Dec. 3 at Fort Hood, and the Pentagon says the public can watch. The President answered “Absolutely” when asked whether he approved, but also said a determination on the broadcast was still to be made, and how the stream would work is not settled, and a federal court challenge could still delay the date.
