Pentagon says execution of Fort Hood shooter will be livestreamed

The United States military is preparing for its first execution in more than six decades, and the Trump administration intends to broadcast it to the world. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced that the execution of former Army psychiatrist Nidal Malik Hasan by firing squad will be public and livestreamed. The Army announced this week that the sentence will be carried out at Fort Hood on Dec. 3. President Donald Trump approved Hasan's execution after the inmate exhausted his appeals last year.

Hasan was convicted by a military jury in 2013 on 45 counts of premeditated murder and attempted murder. On Nov. 5, 2009, Hasan walked into a medical processing center at the Texas base where soldiers waited in long lines for deployment clearances. Shouting "Allahu akbar", he opened fire with a laser-sighted handgun and shot at fleeing soldiers. The attack left 13 people dead and 32 others injured. Law enforcement shot Hasan in the back, leaving him paralyzed from the waist down and reliant on a wheelchair.

Why is the Pentagon planning to livestream an execution now?

The decision to stream the execution marks a sharp break from modern American penal practice, where state and federal executions occur behind closed doors before tiny witnesses. Hegseth defended the move in interviews with conservative media outlets. He's gonna get a firing squad of soldiers, as it should be, Hegseth told right-wing activist Jack Posobiec on Thursday, adding that people need to understand that there's serious consequences for these types of things. Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell wrote on X that Judgment day for Hasan has finally come. When asked whether Hasan had made any final requests or reached out to the administration, Hegseth replied, Don't care. We'll see him on Dec. 3.

Legal scholars see the livestreaming plan as a deliberate political spectacle. Elisabeth Semel, co-director of the Death Penalty Clinic at UC Berkeley Law, noted that while the idea of televising executions has long been discussed, she recalls no situation instigated by the government. This is a president who's about spectacle and that's, I think, precisely the message that he intends to deliver, Semel said, expressing skepticism that the administration considered the legal repercussions. Conversely, Deborah Denno, a death penalty expert at Fordham University, argued that livestreaming could make capital punishment much more transparent by forcing the public to witness what the process entails.

How does this execution compare to military history?

Capital punishment has deep roots in military law, but active use faded generations ago. The last military execution took place on April 13, 1961, when Army Private John Bennett was hanged. The last time a U.S. military execution was carried out by firing squad occurred on Jan. 31, 1945, when Army Private Eddie Slovik faced 12 riflemen from his own unit for desertion during World War II. No state or federal execution in the U.S. has ever been televised, and the last public civilian execution took place in Owensboro, Kentucky, on Aug. 14, 1936.

The Trump administration's broader push for firing squads arrives as states struggle to obtain lethal injection drugs. Brenner Fissell, a professor at Villanova Law, noted that firing squads are increasingly viewed as a cleaner alternative by proponents, though he argued that the Pentagon's choice is driven by a desire to emphasize a military lethality culture. Five states currently authorize firing squads: Idaho, Mississippi, Oklahoma, South Carolina, and Utah. Last year, South Carolina carried out three executions by firing squad, including the April 2025 killing of Mikal Mahdi. Attorneys for Mahdi reported that he suffered excruciating conscious pain for up to a minute because the bullets missed his heart.

What legal and health hurdles remain before December 3?

Hasan's legal team and outside experts warn that the planned timeline could face steep delays. Eugene R. Fidell, a visiting lecturer at Yale Law School, pointed out that Hasan can choose to resist the execution by filing a habeas petition in civilian court to review his detention. It frankly might outlast the current administration, and who knows if the next one will have the same penchant for executions, Fidell said. Meanwhile, attorney John Galligan, a former military judge who represented Hasan in prior civil matters, expressed concern over Hasan's physical health and stated that Hasan had not yet received proper access to legal counsel when notified of the execution order. Galligan said the commandant brought a chaplain but no defense attorney to the notification, calling it a breach of Army regulations. An Army spokeswoman countered that officials made every reasonable effort to contact the Trial Defense Service, adding that civilian counsel was located in Virginia and not reasonably available to be physically present on Oct. 5, though Hasan remains free to communicate with his lawyers.

The bigger question is whether the federal courts or legal appeals will halt the December 3 broadcast before the nation watches its first military firing squad in decades.