President Trump has approved a Fort Hood firing squad for Nidal Hasan, the former Army psychiatrist who killed 13 people in a 2009 mass shooting at the Texas base, according to Pentagon officials.
If carried out, it would be the first U.S. military execution in more than 60 years, and the first by firing squad since World War II.
Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell announced the decision on X late Monday, writing that “judgement day for Hasan has finally come.” Secretary of the Army Adam Telle said in an order released Tuesday that the execution is scheduled for Dec. 3 at Fort Hood.
Robin Maher, executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center, said Hasan could still delay the process by filing a federal habeas corpus appeal. “The fact that the president has approved Mr. Hasan’s death sentence is another step closer to his execution,” she said. “But that does not mean that his execution will be imminent.” Maher noted that Ronald Gray, whose sentence was approved by President George W. Bush in 2008, remains on military death row.
Officials did not explain why they are moving forward now, or why a firing squad was selected. Legal scholars suggested the timing may relate to renewed scrutiny of lethal injection following Tennessee’s failed execution attempt of Christa Pike, which sparked national debate last week.
“For years now, states have been pushing this rock of Sisyphus uphill. They’re spending millions of dollars, and yet they’re having botched executions,” said Corinna Lain, author of Secrets of the Killing State. “Whether the answer to that is firing squad is another question entirely.” The White House referred questions to the Pentagon, which declined to elaborate beyond Parnell’s post.
Parnell said Trump acted on the recommendation of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who pledged last September that he was “100 percent committed to ensuring the death penalty is carried out for Nidal Hasan,” adding that the victims and survivors deserve justice without delays.
Hasan opened fire in November 2009 at a Fort Hood processing center as troops prepared to deploy to Afghanistan, shouting “Allahu akbar” before killing 13 people and wounding 32. He was stopped by civilian security officers and left paralyzed from the waist down.
Acting as his own attorney at his 2013 court-martial, Hasan said “the evidence will clearly show that I am the shooter” and stated he had “switched sides” over U.S. military actions in the Middle East. A military jury convicted him on all counts, dismissed him from the Army and sentenced him to death.
His automatic appeals concluded when the U.S. Supreme Court denied his final petition in spring 2025. He is among four inmates on military death row at the U.S. Disciplinary Barracks in Fort Leavenworth, Kansas.
Fort Hood firing squad decision in historical context
The military’s last firing squad execution was in 1945
Execution by shooting on what became U.S. soil dates to Jamestown in 1608, and firing squads were used at times through the Civil War, though relatively rarely. “On the one hand, it is one of our earliest forms of execution,” said Deborah Denno, a Fordham Law School professor who studies execution methods. “On the other hand, it’s always been controversial because people associate it with extreme barbarity and the Wild West.”
The last U.S. military firing squad execution occurred in 1945, when Private Eddie Slovik was shot for desertion in France, the only American soldier executed for that offense since the Civil War. Journalist Charles Glass said Slovik’s case remained hidden for years and only became widely known after a mid-1950s book revealed the details.
During World War II, most known U.S. military executions were by hanging. The most recent military execution of any kind was in 1961, when Private John Bennett was hanged for the 1955 rape and attempted murder of an Austrian girl. “We basically have gone out of the business, until now, of executing people through the military justice system,” said Eugene Fidell, who teaches military justice at Yale Law School.
The military suspended the death penalty after a 1983 court ruling, then reinstated it in 1984 with lethal injection as the standard. Fidell said Army regulations changed in 2023 to give the president discretion over the method.
Under current rules, after presidential approval, the Army secretary sets the time, place and method within 60 to 150 days. Fidell said Trump’s approval was not surprising given his administration’s broader support for capital punishment and the severity of Hasan’s crimes, though he suggested a social media announcement lacked formality. The Pentagon has not held a formal press briefing since May.
The death penalty is already under scrutiny
Denno said the Pentagon’s announcement likely coincides with rising attention on execution methods after Tennessee’s halted attempt to execute Christa Pike. She added that botched lethal injections have occurred repeatedly, contributing to calls for alternatives.
The Justice Department made firing squads available for federal executions earlier this year following a directive from Trump, and seven states now authorize firing squads, the highest number on record. Denno argues that when properly performed, firing squads can cause death within seconds and are among the least inhumane options.
Still, problems have occurred. In South Carolina last year, an autopsy indicated a firing squad may have prolonged a prisoner’s death by missing his heart.
“There is a humane way to take a life. It’s called life without parole,” Lain said, noting that lethal injection’s relatively sanitized image kept capital punishment “out of sight, out of mind” for decades. Data from the Death Penalty Information Center show death sentences have dropped by 90% over the past 30 years, with fewer than 50 imposed annually since 2015.
A 2025 Gallup poll found public support at a five-decade low, with opposition highest among younger Americans. “The death penalty in this country is dying its own slow death,” Lain said, adding that the government’s embrace of the firing squad, including in Hasan’s case, could accelerate that trend.
Trump’s broader record on capital punishment has drawn political scrutiny similar to his other criminal justice decisions, including when Trump calls Russia plague reports concerning, vows review of global biosecurity threats.
