Nidal Hasan Firing Squad: Trump Approves Execution

The Nidal Hasan firing squad execution has been approved by President Donald Trump, the Pentagon announced this week, setting up the first execution carried out by the U.S. military since 1961. Hasan, a former Army major and psychiatrist, was convicted of killing 13 people and wounding 32 others in the 2009 mass shooting at Fort Hood, Texas, according to Reuters.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth recommended the firing squad method and Trump approved it, Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell said in a post on X on October 5, USA Today reported. The Secretary of the Army will set the time and place of the execution, Parnell said.

Nidal Hasan Firing Squad: Execution Date Reported

Acting Army Secretary Adam Telle announced Tuesday that the Nidal Hasan firing squad execution is scheduled for December 3 at Fort Hood, CNN reported. If carried out, it would be the U.S. Army’s first execution by firing squad since World War II and the military’s first execution of any kind in 65 years, according to CNN. The last service member executed was Army Private John Bennett, hanged in Kansas in 1961, data from the Death Penalty Information Center cited by USA Today shows.

Hasan is one of only four inmates on the U.S. military’s death row, held at the Fort Leavenworth detention facility in Kansas, The Times reported. In February, Army officials reportedly circulated a plan, dubbed “Operation Resolute Justice,” to coordinate with the Federal Bureau of Prisons on carrying out military executions, according to ABC News reporting cited by the New York Post.

The 2009 Fort Hood Attack

On November 5, 2009, Hasan opened fire at a medical processing facility at Fort Hood, one of the world’s largest military bases, where soldiers were preparing to deploy to Iraq and Afghanistan, according to Reuters. Twelve of the dead were soldiers and one was a retired serviceman; 32 others were wounded. Hasan was shot by a responding civilian police officer and partially paralyzed.

Hasan later described the attack as retaliation for U.S. wars in the Muslim world, Reuters reported. A military jury convicted him in 2013 of 13 counts of premeditated murder and 32 counts of attempted murder and unanimously recommended the death sentence, according to CNN. He represented himself at trial, called no witnesses and admitted he was the gunman, while asking forgiveness for mistakes.

• Attack: November 5, 2009, Fort Hood, Texas
• Killed: 13 people (12 soldiers, 1 retired serviceman)
• Wounded: 32 people
• Conviction: 2013 court martial, death sentence
• Execution method: U.S. Army firing squad
• Reported date: December 3, at Fort Hood

Why a Firing Squad?

Death by firing squad is one of several execution methods the Trump administration recently added to the permissible options for the gravest federal crimes, alongside electrocution and gas asphyxiation, Reuters reported. The expansion came partly because of growing difficulty obtaining lethal injection drugs, which have also produced troubled executions, according to Reuters.

The decision follows the botched September 30 execution attempt of Christa Pike in Tennessee, where two doses of pentobarbital failed to kill her and she was hospitalized in critical condition, USA Today reported. Pike’s lawyers had previously urged Tennessee to consider alternatives including a firing squad. Columbia Law School professor Bernard Harcourt told USA Today the failed Tennessee execution may have helped sway federal officials toward the firing squad method.

What Happens Next

A presidential approval of a military death sentence begins a potentially lengthy post-appellate process, Army Lawyer magazine reported in May, according to USA Today. It remains unclear how quickly all remaining legal steps can be completed before the reported December 3 date.

The announcement has drawn brief responses from officials. Hegseth replied to the Pentagon announcement with a single word, “Justice,” CNN reported. Parnell wrote that judgment day for Hasan had finally come.

Hasan has been on military death row since 2013. His case now moves toward what would be a historic first: no member of the U.S. armed forces has been executed in more than six decades, and the Army has not used a firing squad since the Second World War era, according to CNN.