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The Pentagon plans to livestream the execution of former U.S. Army psychiatrist Nidal Hasan, who killed 13 people at the Fort Hood military base in Texas in 2009. If carried out, it would be the first execution livestreamed to the public in U.S. history.
Hasan is scheduled to be executed by firing squad at Fort Hood on Dec. 3. It could be the first execution by firing squad carried out by the U.S. military since 1945.
A Pentagon official, speaking on condition of anonymity, confirmed the broadcast plan and said further details would be released later. U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth also confirmed the plan in a post on the social media platform X.
In an interview with the “Human Events Daily” program, Hegseth said it was an easy decision to hold the execution at Fort Hood at 1 p.m. Thursday. He said the time and location are close to those of the 2009 attack.
“We’re going to make sure people can watch this, that it’s public, because people need to understand that there are serious consequences for actions like this,” Hegseth said.
Asked whether Hasan had made any final requests, the secretary replied, “I don’t care. We’ll see him on Dec. 3.”
Livestream raises legal questions
Broadcasting the execution would depart from long-standing practices in the United States. Media organizations have previously sought permission to televise executions, but courts have rejected those requests.
Eugene Fidell, a military law expert and lecturer at Yale Law School, called the decision to livestream the execution “extraordinarily strange.” He said Hasan could seek an order from a federal court to block the broadcast.
Jonathan Lurie, a historian of military justice, also questioned the decision, saying there was no compelling reason to allow the public to watch an execution. According to reports, the last public execution in the United States under a court order took place in 1936.
President Trump authorized Hasan’s execution
In August 2013, a military court convicted Hasan on 45 counts of premeditated murder and attempted murder and sentenced him to death. He carried out the attack shortly before he was due to be deployed to Afghanistan. Wounded by police gunfire, Hasan is partially paralyzed and uses a wheelchair.
U.S. military law requires presidential authorization for an execution by firing squad. According to the Pentagon, President Donald Trump approved the execution following a recommendation from Hegseth. The White House has not said whether Trump supports livestreaming it and referred questions to the Defense Department.
According to Death Penalty Action, an organization that opposes capital punishment, this would be the first execution carried out by the U.S. military in 65 years. The last military execution was carried out by hanging a prisoner in 1961.
The execution plan comes as debate over capital punishment in the United States, particularly the use of lethal injections, has intensified again. Last week, prison officials in Tennessee were unable to complete the lethal injection of death-row inmate Christa Pike. Pike survived and was taken to hospital.
Her lawyers say Pike remained in serious condition after the procedure and was strapped to a hospital bed. Shortages of drugs used for lethal injections and concerns about the method’s reliability have prompted consideration of alternative execution methods.
The Trump administration has expanded the range of execution methods available for the most serious federal crimes. They include firing squads, the electric chair and gas asphyxiation. At least five U.S. states allow execution by firing squad in certain circumstances. South Carolina carried out the country’s first execution by this method in 15 years in 2025.
