WASHINGTON — The Pentagon announced Monday that former U.S. Army Major Nidal Malik Hasan will be put to death by firing squad, marking the first military execution by that method in more than six decades.
Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell posted on social media that Secretary of the Army Pete Hegseth recommended the sentence and President Donald Trump approved it. Parnell added that the secretary of the Army will set the time and place for the execution.
Hasan, a former Army psychiatrist from Virginia, was convicted for the November 5, 2009 attack at Fort Hood, Texas, in which he killed 13 unarmed soldiers and wounded 32 others. The assault, carried out in a crowded medical building where deploying troops were awaiting check‑ups and vaccines, remains the deadliest non‑combat attack on a U.S. military base. During his 2013 court‑martial, Hasan admitted responsibility, apologized for “any mistakes,” and testified that he believed he was protecting Muslims and the Taliban in Afghanistan.
The execution will require several legal steps. Under military law, a capital sentence must receive presidential approval, undergo appellate review, and receive a final judgment on its legality before it can be carried out. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces ruled the military death penalty unconstitutional in 1983, but an executive order by President Ronald Reagan reinstated it the following year.
Hasan is currently one of four inmates on the military’s death row. While the death penalty remains legal at the federal level and in 27 states, most executions in the United States are carried out by state authorities. Execution by firing squad is rare; the last such execution before this announcement occurred in South Carolina last year, the first for that state and the first use of the method in the nation in 15 years.
President Trump, who took office in January 2025, has been a vocal supporter of the federal death penalty and reinstated it through an executive order on his first day in office.
The Pentagon has not disclosed a specific date for the execution, pending the Army secretary’s scheduling.
Sources
BBC News World, “Fort Hood shooter to be executed by firing squad – a first for US military since World War Two,” https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cq8ezkkkrpy1o?at_medium=RSS&at_campaign=rss
Source: BBC News World
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Story synopsis gathered from: BBC News World — source
