President Donald Trump has approved the Nidal Hasan execution by a US Army firing squad, the Pentagon announced, moving the Fort Hood gunman closer to becoming the first person executed by the US military since 1961. The Army secretary will determine when and where the sentence is carried out.
Fort Hood
Trump approved the firing-squad execution of former Army Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan after Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth recommended the method, according to Pentagon chief spokesman Sean Parnell.
Parnell said the Secretary of the Army will set the time and location. Hasan remains under a military death sentence for the November 5, 2009 attack at Fort Hood, Texas, now known as Fort Cavazos. The shooting killed 13 people and led to convictions on 32 counts of attempted premeditated murder.
The decision is historically significant because the US military has not carried out an execution since April 1961, when Army Pvt. John Bennett was hanged at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas.
Military death
Hasan was an Army psychiatrist when he opened fire inside Fort Hood’s Soldier Readiness Processing Center, where military personnel were preparing for deployment. Twelve service members and one civilian were killed.
During the 2013 court-martial, Hasan represented himself and acknowledged responsibility for the shooting. His standby military attorneys raised concerns that his limited defense appeared aimed at receiving a death sentence. A military panel unanimously convicted him of 13 counts of premeditated murder and 32 counts of attempted premeditated murder.
Hasan trial
The court sentenced Hasan to death on August 28, 2013, while also ordering his dismissal from the Army and forfeiture of military pay and allowances.
Evidence and testimony presented in connection with the case showed Hasan opposed US military operations overseas and had communicated with Anwar al-Awlaki, the US-born radical cleric later killed in Yemen. Hasan argued that his actions were intended to protect Muslims fighting US forces, according to accounts of his trial.
Firing squad
The firing-squad decision does not mean an execution will occur immediately. Military capital cases involve extensive legal procedures, and Hasan could still pursue federal court challenges. His case has already gone through years of military appellate review.
If the sentence is ultimately carried out, Hasan would become the first US service member executed in more than 65 years. A firing squad would be even more unusual: the last Army execution by that method was Pvt. Eddie Slovik’s execution for desertion during World War II in 1945.
Army order
The Pentagon announcement places the next administrative step with the Secretary of the Army, who will establish the execution’s time and location.
The case now sits at the intersection of military justice, capital punishment and one of the deadliest attacks on a US military installation in modern history. Trump’s approval does not change Hasan’s conviction; it moves the long-running death-penalty case toward a potential execution while any remaining legal avenues are resolved.
