US to Livestream Fort Hood Shooter's Firing Squad Execution

The Pentagon has confirmed that the US Army's firing-squad execution of Nidal Hasan, the former Army major convicted of killing 13 people in the 2009 Fort Hood shooting, will be livestreamed for the public to watch. The December 3 execution would be the first US military execution in more than 65 years — and, experts say, an unprecedented public broadcast of a legal execution anywhere in the world.

Nidal Malik Hasan, convicted of killing 13 people in the 2009 Fort Hood shooting, in a 2013 custody photo.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced the plan during an interview with the conservative outlet Real America's Voice on Wednesday, saying, "We'll make sure that people are able to watch it, that it's public." A Pentagon official confirmed the details to AFP and Reuters on Thursday, adding that the execution "will be livestreamed" and that further details would follow.

Hegseth framed the decision as a deliberate message about deterrence. "People need to understand that there are serious consequences for these types of things," he said. Speaking aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier, Hegseth said the firing squad would be composed of soldiers, and dismissed questions about whether Hasan had made any final requests or contacted the administration: "Don't care. We'll see him on December 3rd."

The Execution Plan

According to a memo issued Tuesday by acting Army Secretary Adam Telle, the execution will take place at Fort Hood, Texas, on Thursday, December 3, 2026, at 1 p.m. Central Time — the same sprawling base where Hasan opened fire with a laser-sighted handgun inside the Soldier Readiness Processing Center on November 5, 2009.

Hegseth told the Human Events Daily program that scheduling the execution at Fort Hood on a Thursday at 1 p.m. — roughly the same time, day of the week, and location as the 2009 shooting — was a "no-brainer." Under US military law, a firing-squad execution requires authorization from the president. Chief Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell announced Monday that President Donald Trump had approved Hegseth's recommendation, posting on X that "judgement day for Hasan has finally come."

Army regulation requires that the execution take place no sooner than 60 days and within 150 days of presidential approval. Army rules also stipulate that at least two media outlets should be selected to witness an execution.

A Historic First — and a Legal Firestorm

If carried out as scheduled, Hasan's execution would mark the first execution by the US military since April 13, 1961, when Army Pvt. John A. Bennett was hanged at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, for the rape and attempted murder of an 11-year-old girl in Austria.

It would also be the first US military firing-squad execution since World War II. The last was Pvt. Eddie D. Slovik, executed on January 31, 1945, in France after being convicted of desertion. Trump approved the firing-squad method on October 5, 2026, and Hegseth said on October 8 that the execution would be livestreamed for public viewing.

The livestream plan has drawn sharp scrutiny from legal experts, who note that American executions have not been televised in the modern era. Media organizations have sought permission to broadcast US executions in the past but have been blocked by the courts. Experts cited in AFP's reporting said no other country is known to televise or livestream a legally sanctioned execution.

Public executions have become exceedingly rare worldwide. Countries known to have conducted them in recent years include Iran and Taliban-ruled Afghanistan. The last legally sanctioned public execution in the United States took place in 1936, when a crowd of thousands watched the hanging of a young Black man convicted of rape in Owensboro, Kentucky, according to death penalty experts.

The entrance to Fort Hood, Texas, where Nidal Hasan is scheduled to be executed on December 3.

What This Means

Legal scholars say the move raises profound questions about the purpose of capital punishment in a democracy. Brenner Fissell, a Villanova University law professor and vice president of the National Institute of Military Justice, told reporters that the Trump administration views firing squads as a more practical alternative to lethal injection — and that "there is a perceived masculinity and military-ness to firing squads that is part of the aura Hegseth is trying to emphasize, the 'lethality culture.'"

Elisabeth Semel, co-director of the Death Penalty Clinic at the University of California, Berkeley, said the decision raised serious legal and public-policy questions, including concerns about the prisoner's dignity and the government's motives for choosing to broadcast the execution. John Mills, a lawyer who works with death-row inmates, described the proposed livestream as unprecedented in the modern era and said it raised significant legal questions.

The announcement lands amid a heightened national debate over the death penalty. It follows the botched lethal injection of a Tennessee woman last week, which intensified scrutiny of execution methods across the country. Federal executions have been a political flashpoint for years, and the Pentagon's decision places the military justice system at the center of that fight.

Hasan, now 56, has been held on military death row at the US Disciplinary Barracks at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, since his 2013 sentencing. He is one of four death row inmates in the Army justice system. He did not seriously dispute that he was the shooter at his trial; he described himself as a soldier who had "switched sides" and said the attack was intended to prevent American troops from deploying to Afghanistan.

Hasan was sentenced to death by a military jury in 2013 after his conviction for the 2009 Fort Hood attack.

What Happens Next

The December 3 date is not guaranteed. According to the Associated Press, Hasan could seek additional relief through the civilian federal court system, and a federal habeas corpus appeal could potentially put the execution on hold, potentially for years. The Supreme Court declined to review his case last year, but the possibility of further federal litigation means the date could still be challenged, and legal proceedings challenging Hasan's conviction and sentence remain unresolved.

The Pentagon has not yet said which platform would host the livestream, who would produce the broadcast, or whether it would be edited or shown in full. The White House referred questions about the livestreaming plans to the Pentagon.

For the victims' families, the news represents the latest turn in a case that has stretched nearly 17 years. Thirteen people were killed and 32 were wounded when Hasan, then an Army psychiatrist, opened fire at a medical processing facility where soldiers were preparing for deployment. Hasan was himself shot during the confrontation and left partially paralyzed.

Whether the execution goes ahead on schedule will depend on the courts. But the Pentagon's announcement marks a dramatic departure from more than half a century of military practice — and, if carried out, would make Hasan the first person in modern American history to die before a national audience.