Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has announced that convicted mass murderer Nidal Hasan will face a public execution by firing squad at Fort Hood, the same Texas Army base where he killed 13 people in 2009.
Hegseth, 44, revealed the plans during a Thursday interview with Real America’s Voice, specifying that the execution would mirror the circumstances of the original attack. “We’re going to do it on a Thursday. We’re going to do it at one o’clock, which is when he did it. And it’s going to be soldiers with rifles executing the firing squad,” he said.
The defense chief framed the public nature of the execution as a deliberate statement. “We’re gonna make sure it’s going to 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 continued.
He emphasized that the location itself carried symbolic weight. “Army major betrays his country, radical Islamist kills a bunch of Americans at Fort Hood. Of course we’re doing it at Fort Hood,” Hegseth said.
Hasan, a former Army psychiatrist, has remained on military death row since his 2013 conviction. A military jury found him guilty of 13 counts of premeditated murder and 32 counts of attempted premeditated murder for the Nov. 5, 2009, shooting rampage that also left 32 others wounded. The attack stands among the deadliest shootings ever at a U.S. Military installation.
The case has dragged through years of appeals and procedural delays typical of military capital punishment, which is rarely carried out. No service member has been executed under the modern military justice system, making Hasan’s pending execution historically significant regardless of its final form.
Hegseth’s comments mark the most specific public timeline yet for carrying out the sentence, though military executions require presidential approval under current regulations. The secretary’s detailed remarks — down to the day of the week and hour — suggest active planning rather than speculative discussion.
The choice of firing squad rather than lethal injection, the more common method in recent U.S. Executions, aligns with military protocol and the secretary’s stated preference for soldiers carrying out the sentence directly. Several states have moved to authorize or reinstate firing squads as alternative methods amid shortages of lethal injection drugs, though the military maintains its own procedures.
Hasan’s case has long been entangled in debates over whether the shooting constituted terrorism or workplace violence, with victims’ families and some lawmakers pressing for the former designation. The former major had exchanged emails with radical cleric Anwar al-Awlaki before the attack, and witnesses at his trial described his shouted references to religious motivations during the shooting itself.
Military officials have not yet issued formal execution orders or confirmed whether additional security measures will accompany the public proceedings Hegseth described. The secretary’s interview comments did not address whether family members of victims would receive priority access to witness the execution.
The 2009 attack unfolded during a pre-deployment processing event at Fort Hood’s Soldier Readiness Processing Center, where Hasan opened fire on unarmed service members preparing for overseas assignments. Among the dead were soldiers from multiple units and at least one civilian employee, with victims ranging in age from 19 to 62.
Hasan represented himself at his 2013 court-martial, offered no defense witnesses, and made no statement requesting leniency during sentencing. He has reportedly sought to be executed as a “martyr” in statements to mental health evaluators, a position that complicated earlier deliberations over his mental competence for trial.