Pentagon to livestream first U.S. military firing-squad execution since 1945
The Pentagon plans to livestream the Dec. 3 firing-squad execution of Nidal Malik Hasan, a former soldier who admitted to killing 13 people in the 2009 Fort Hood shooting, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Thursday in an interview with Real America’s Voice, a right-wing news outlet.
Hegseth said the execution would be carried out on a Thursday at 1 p.m. Central time, which he noted was around the same time Hasan opened fire at the Army base on Nov. 5, 2009. Hasan admitted to carrying out the attack.
“It hadn’t been since World War II since we’ve done that. Well, I kind of like the mentality we had in World War II, which was: ‘win,’” Hegseth told Real America’s Voice.
“It was a radical Islamist attack in uniform inside the ranks, and so he’s going to get a firing squad of soldiers, as it should be,” he said.
Hegseth called the decision to execute Hasan by firing squad “a no-brainer.” He said he had wanted to ensure “people are able to watch it” because “people need to understand that there’s serious consequences for these types of things.”
The execution is scheduled to take place at Fort Hood, Texas — the same base where the shooting occurred.
Under existing Army regulation, an execution can be attended by select members of the public, including family members of the victims and members of the media, but not by the broader public. When asked for comment, a Defense Department official said in a statement that “it will be livestreamed,” without providing further details.
If carried out, Hasan’s execution would be the first by firing squad in the U.S. military in more than 65 years; a servicemember has not been executed by that method since 1945.