President Donald Trump has approved the execution of former Army Major Nidal Hasan by U.S. Army firing squad for his role in the November 2009 mass shooting at Fort Hood, Texas, marking a significant step toward the first U.S. military execution in more than six decades.
The decision was publicly confirmed by Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell, who stated that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth formally recommended the firing squad measure.
In a official statement, Parnell noted that the Secretary of the Army will now determine the specific time, location, and operational protocols for the execution, adding that “judgement day for Hasan has finally come”. Secretary Hegseth endorsed the announcement publicly, characterizing the directive as a long-awaited act of justice for the victims and their families.
Hasan, a former U.S. Army psychiatrist, opened fire inside the Soldier Readiness Processing Center at Fort Hood on November 5, 2009. The violent attack resulted in the deaths of 13 people, including 12 service members and one civilian, and left more than 30 others wounded before Hasan was paralyzed after being shot by responding civilian police officers.
In 2013, a military court-martial convicted Hasan on 13 counts of premeditated murder and 32 counts of attempted premeditated murder. During the trial, Hasan chose to represent himself, offered no defense witnesses, and declined to testify or dispute the charges. Trial records showed Hasan had radicalized online, communicating with al-Qaeda-linked cleric Anwar al-Awlaki and claiming he carried out the attack to oppose U.S. military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Hasan, currently incarcerated at the U.S. Disciplinary Barracks at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, has exhausted his primary civilian legal appeals, including a petition to the U.S. Supreme Court.
If carried out, the sentence will mark the first U.S. military execution since April 1961, under the administration of President John F. Kennedy, when Army Private John A. Bennett was hanged at Fort Leavenworth for the rape and attempted murder of an 11-year-old child.
It will also represent the first execution conducted via military firing squad in over 80 years.
On the federal level, the last convict executed by the U.S. government was Dustin John Higgs, who was put to death by lethal injection on January 16, 2021, during the first administration of President Donald Trump.
