Fort Hood, TX — The Pentagon plans to livestream the firing-squad execution of Nidal Hasan, the former Army major convicted of killing 13 people and wounding 32 others at Fort Hood in 2009.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Thursday that the execution should be publicly viewable because people should understand there are “serious consequences” for such attacks. Pentagon officials subsequently clarified that public access will come through a livestream rather than spectators gathering at the execution site.
The Army has scheduled Hasan’s execution for 1 p.m. Central Time on Dec. 3 at Fort Hood, nearly 17 years after the attack. President Donald Trump approved Hasan’s death sentence Oct. 2 following Hegseth’s recommendation.
Hasan was convicted by a military jury in 2013. The Supreme Court declined to review his court-martial conviction in March 2025, although he may still pursue challenges in civilian federal court that could delay the execution.
If carried out, Hasan would become the first U.S. military prisoner executed since 1961 and the first Army prisoner killed by firing squad since Pvt. Eddie Slovik in 1945.
The decision to livestream is historically unusual. America’s last generally recognized public execution occurred in Kentucky in 1936, when thousands gathered to watch the hanging of Rainey Bethea.
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