The U.S. plans to broadcast the first execution of a service member in decades

In the United States, there are plans to broadcast live the execution of former soldier Nidal Hasan, who was convicted of mass murder at Fort Hood military base in Texas. According to a source, this could be the first military execution of its kind in the U.S. since World War II.

 

This was announced by U.S. Secretary of War Pete Hagseth.

Nidal Hasan is scheduled to be executed by firing squad on December 3, 2026. Pete Hagseth stated that the public will be able to witness the execution.

During an interview with Real America’s Voice, the Pentagon chief confirmed that the sentence will be carried out by a firing squad of military personnel.

According to him, the execution will be made public to demonstrate the consequences of serious crimes.

“We will ensure that people can see this, that it is public, because people need to understand that there are serious consequences for such acts,” Hagseth said.

Later, a representative of the U.S. Department of Defense confirmed to Reuters that the execution would be broadcast live. Details regarding the broadcast are expected to be released later.

According to Hegset, the execution is scheduled for December 3 at 1:00 p.m. local time at Fort Hood in Texas.

The date and time were not chosen at random: they are intended to roughly correspond to the circumstances of the attack that Hasan carried out on November 5, 2009. On that day, he opened fire at the military base’s medical center.

U.S. President Donald Trump approved the execution on Hegset’s recommendation. Under U.S. military law, the president’s approval is required to carry out a death sentence by firing squad.

Nidal Hasan is a former U.S. Army major and military psychiatrist. In November 2009, he opened fire on service members at a training center at Fort Hood.

Thirteen people were killed in the attack, and another 32 were wounded. During his arrest, Hasan was wounded by police and was left partially paralyzed.

In August 2013, a military court found him guilty on 45 counts related to murder and attempted murder. The court sentenced him to death.

During the trial, Hasan admitted his involvement in the shooting. He explained his actions as an attempt to prevent U.S. troops from deploying to Afghanistan.

Hasan’s execution could be the first execution by firing squad of a U.S. service member since World War II. The last time this method of execution was used in the U.S. military was in 1945, when Private Eddie Slovik was executed by firing squad in France for desertion.

The last known execution ordered by a U.S. military court took place in 1961—the condemned man was hanged.

The public broadcast of the execution will also be an unprecedented step in modern U.S. history. The last documented public execution in the country took place in 1936 in the state of Kentucky.

The decision regarding Hassan was made against the backdrop of broader changes in the Trump administration’s policy on the death penalty.

In April 2026, U.S. authorities expanded the list of permitted methods for carrying out federal death sentences to include, among others, firing squad, the electric chair, and lethal injection, according to Bloomberg.

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