US to Livestream Army Execution of Fort Hood Shooter Nidal Hasan in December
Unprecedented Military Execution and Its Implications
By Phil Stewart
Livestreaming the Execution
WASHINGTON, Oct 8 (Reuters) - The US will livestream the Army's upcoming firing squad execution on December 3 of Nidal Hasan, who killed 13 people at Fort Hood, Texas, in a 2009 shooting spree, a Pentagon official said, in what would be an unprecedented move.
Hasan, a former Army psychiatrist, is set to become the first person to be executed by firing squad by the US military since 1945.
Defense Secretary’s Announcement
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who championed the push to execute Hasan by firing squad, had told the Human Events Daily program broadcast earlier on Thursday by Real America's Voice that he planned to make Hasan's execution public. Hegseth did not say how.
"The Secretary is correct. It will be livestreamed. Details will follow," the Pentagon official told Reuters, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Timing and Public Nature of the Execution
Hegseth said deciding to execute Hasan by firing squad at Fort Hood on a Thursday at 1 pm — the approximate time, day of the week and location of the 2009 shooting — was a "no brainer."
"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," Hegseth said.
Asked if Hasan had made any final requests, Hegseth said: "Don't care. We'll see him on December 3."
Legal and Historical Context
Presidential Approval Requirement
PRESIDENT MUST APPROVE FIRING SQUAD EXECUTION
A military jury sentenced Hasan to death in August 2013, after finding him guilty of 45 counts of premeditated murder and attempted premeditated murder for opening fire with a laser-sighted handgun in a medical facility at the sprawling central Texas military base.
The shooting came weeks before Hasan, now 56, was scheduled to be deployed to Afghanistan. He was left partially paralyzed and confined to a wheelchair from being shot by police during his arrest.
Under US military law, a US president must approve an execution by firing squad. President Donald Trump did so on Hegseth's recommendation, the Pentagon disclosed on Monday.
"It hasn't been since World War Two since we've done that. Well, kind of like the mentality we had in World War Two," Hegseth said.
The White House declined to say whether Trump supported the livestreaming, referring questions to the Pentagon.
Historical Precedents
The group Death Penalty Action, which opposes capital punishment, said Hasan's execution would be the first military execution since 1961.
According to the Death Penalty Information Center, the 1961 execution was carried out by hanging.
The last known executions by US military firing squads were in 1945, the center reported.
Firing Squad Laws in the US
At least five states have firing squads on the books, according to the Death Penalty Information Center. In 2025, South Carolina carried out the first such execution in the United States in 15 years.
Capital Punishment Methods and Recent Developments
Expansion of Execution Methods
Death by firing squad is one of several forms of capital punishment the Trump administration recently added to permissible forms of execution for the gravest of federal crimes, along with electrocution and gas asphyxiation.
The number of federal execution options was expanded in part because of increasing difficulties in obtaining drugs for lethal injections, which have also sometimes proved challenging to carry out.
Recent Execution Mishaps
Plans by the state of Tennessee to execute a woman for the first time in more than 200 years went awry last week when prison personnel botched attempts to administer a lethal injection, leaving the death-row inmate, Christa Pike, alive but hospitalized.
Aftermath for Christa Pike
Her lawyers said on Wednesday she awoke "angry and confused" in a hospital. Pike remains very sick and shackled to her hospital bed, they said.
(Reporting by Phil Stewart; additional reporting by Jarrett Renshaw; Editing by Rosalba O'Brien)
