New Delhi: The US will livestream the execution by firing squad of former Army Major Nidal Hasan, who killed 13 people at Texas’s Fort Hood military base in 2009, Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth has said. Hasan is set to become the first person executed by firing squad by the US military since 1945 and the first person executed by the military since 1961.
His execution is scheduled for December 3 at 1 pm CST at Fort Hood, matching the time and location of the 2009 shooting. A military firing squad using service rifles is expected to carry out the sentence.
US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth confirmed the planned livestream on Thursday and told Real America’s Voice: “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.”
Asked about Hasan’s final requests, Hegseth said: “Don’t care. We’ll see him on December 3rd.”
Following his remarks, Reuters, CBS News and the BBC sought clarification from military officials on what a “public” execution would entail. A Pentagon official, speaking anonymously, confirmed that the military intended to broadcast the firing squad over the internet. “It will be livestreamed. Details will follow,” Reuters quoted the official as saying.
Hasan, an Army psychiatrist, killed 13 people and wounded 32 others after opening fire at Fort Hood on 5 November 2009. During his 2013 court-martial, he admitted to the attack and said he had acted to protect the Taliban in Afghanistan. He was sentenced to death and remained on military death row until US President Donald Trump authorised his execution on October 2.
The execution would be the first carried out by the US military since 1961, when an Army private was hanged after being convicted of raping an 11-year-old Austrian girl. The last US execution by firing squad took place in January 1945, when Army deserter Eddie Slovik was shot during the final months of World War II.
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Legal challenge and questions over broadcast
Hasan’s lawyer, John Galligan, is challenging the proposed broadcast under the Eighth Amendment to the US Constitution, which prohibits cruel and unusual punishment. According to ABC News, Galligan argued that televising the execution would subject Hasan to deliberate psychological degradation.
In an interview with ABC News, Galligan said Hasan remained calm when informed that his execution had been authorised but was surprised by the decision to carry it out at Fort Hood. “I’m surprised and shocked that they want to bring him back to Fort Hood. I think it’s more of a public spectacle, closely akin to almost—I see it more as political theater,” Galligan said.
He also questioned the implications of making the execution public, saying it was “not great for the confidence in our system of justice”.
It remains unclear where the livestream will be broadcast and whether social media platforms will carry it. Facebook and Instagram, owned by Meta, as well as YouTube and TikTok, restrict graphic violent content under their respective policies. X permits a broader range of content but removes death-related media at the request of families, while Donald Trump’s Truth Social does not currently offer livestreaming capabilities.
If the US proceeds with the broadcast, it will join countries such as Iran and Taliban-ruled Afghanistan in livestreaming executions. Trump had criticised the Iranian regime over public executions during protests in the country last year.
Execution method and military protocol
The military is updating its 1959 firing-squad protocols, which have not been used in more than 50 years. Under the historical rules, eight riflemen positioned 15 paces from the prisoner would fire at a target over the prisoner’s heart. A close-range shot would follow if the prisoner survived the initial volley.
It remains unclear how the procedures will be adapted to current standards or Hasan’s circumstances. He uses a wheelchair because of lower-body paralysis sustained when he was subdued during the Fort Hood shooting.
ABC News reported that internal records showed the Army had previously prepared for lethal injection to execute Hasan.
Military courts can impose the death penalty, but carrying out a sentence requires a separate sequence of approvals. The process begins with authorisation from the service leader—in this case, acting US Army Secretary Adam Telle—before proceeding to Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth and ultimately the president.
The decision comes days after the failed lethal-injection execution of death-row inmate Christa Pike in Tennessee on September 30. Pike was convicted of murdering a schoolmate. Trump authorised Hasan’s execution the following Friday, October 2.
Ashwin Shekhar is a TPSJ alum, currently interning with ThePrint.
(Edited by Chingkheinganbi Mayengbam)