US Military to Execute Nidal Malik Hasan; Livestreaming Still Being Determined

Defense officials confirmed Thursday that the United States military will livestream the upcoming firing squad execution of former Army Major Nidal Malik Hasan at Fort Hood, Texas, drawing sharp partisan backlash and creating an unprecedented public broadcast of a capital punishment case.

The execution is scheduled for December 3 at the sprawling Texas military base where Hasan opened fire with a laser-sighted handgun inside a medical facility on November 5, 2009. Thirteen people died and 31 others were injured during the rampage as long lines of soldiers waited for routine immunizations and deployment clearances. Hasan, an Army psychiatrist who held the rank of major, later told jurors he carried out the shooting to stop soldiers from deploying to Afghanistan and killing his fellow Muslims. A military jury sentenced him to death in August 2013 after finding him guilty of 45 counts of premeditated murder and attempted premeditated murder.

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Pentagon Schedules Public Broadcast for December

The execution is set for a Thursday at 1 p.m., matching the approximate day of the week, hour, and site of the 2009 mass shooting.

“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.”

Pete Hegseth, Defense Secretary

When asked by interviewers whether Hasan had made any final requests or reached out to administration officials, Hegseth dismissed the inquiry with a blunt Don’t care. We’ll see him on December 3. Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell confirmed that President Donald Trump officially approved the firing squad execution method on Monday at Hegseth’s recommendation, though the White House declined to answer whether Trump personally supported livestreaming the event, referring questions directly to the Pentagon. In an interview with the conservative outlet Real America’s Voice, Hegseth further emphasized the nature of the upcoming event, stating that the inmate will receive a firing squad composed of soldiers.

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Vice President JD Vance weighed in on the administration’s conflicting statements by telling reporters that he doubted the broadcast would actually take place and adding that he would not watch it if it did.

Legal Experts Question Broadcast Precedent

Later, regarding plans to livestream the event, Trump noted that officials were still determining that aspect, remarking that he ultimately does not care how the inmate goes as long as he is killed.

An image collage containing 3 images, Image 1 shows Handout photo of Nidal Hasan, charged in a shooting spree at Fort Hood — Photo: thesun.co.uk

Legal historians and death penalty experts note that televising or livestreaming a state-sanctioned execution has no modern precedent in the United States. According to records maintained by the Death Penalty Information Center and a 2025 book titled American Bloodlines: Reckoning with Lynch Culture by Sonya Lee, the last documented public execution in the United States took place in 1936, when about 20,000 people attended the hanging of Rainey Bethea in Owensboro, Kentucky.

The last service member executed by a U.S. military firing squad was Pvt. Eddie Slovik in 1945. The military justice system last carried out an execution on April 13, 1961, when Army Pvt. John Bennett was hanged for rape and attempted murder.

Trump: I ‘absolutely’ approved livestream of firing squad execution

Lawmakers Condemn Planned Livestream

The decision to broadcast the execution drew immediate and severe bipartisan backlash from lawmakers in Washington. Democratic Senator Chris Murphy of Connecticut sharply criticized the administration’s plan on television, drawing comparisons to extremist propaganda.

Democratic Senator Patty Murray strongly condemned the decision in a social media post, demanding that the Pentagon revoke the choice immediately and characterizing a livestreamed execution as a grotesque public spectacle that glorifies violence. Republican Representative Austin Scott added that livestreaming executions is what jihadists do, while Sen. Jack Reed, the top Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee, warned that broadcasting the event would serve as a gift to anti-American terrorist recruiters.

Pentagon to livestream Ft. Hood shooter’s firing squad execution

Legal scholars point out that the planned broadcast faces steep procedural hurdles. Eugene Fidell, a military law expert and visiting lecturer at Yale Law School, noted that while firing squads hold an established place in American military law, televising an execution is extremely, extremely strange and legally untested. Fidell questioned the reasoning behind making such an event public, a sentiment echoed by military justice historian Michael Lurie, who stated there are no compelling reasons to do so. Elisabeth Semel, co-director of the Death Penalty Clinic at UC Berkeley Law, observed that Hegseth’s announcement presents numerous legal and public policy concerns, including questions regarding the defendant’s dignity, who will be allowed to witness the event, and the overarching aura of lethality culture the administration attempts to project.