Dec. 3 execution would be U.S. military’s first since 1961

U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Wednesday that the military’s planned execution of Nidal Hasan would be open to public viewing. “We’ll make sure that people are able to watch it, that it’s public, because people need to understand that there’s serious consequences for these types of things,” Hegseth told podcaster Jack Posobeic. Hegseth did not say how the execution would be publicized.

Hegseth also described the execution’s timing. It would occur “on a Thursday, we’re going to do it at one o’clock, which is when he did it, and it’s going to be soldiers with rifles executing the firing squad,” he said Wednesday.

The Pentagon earlier this week announced Hasan would be executed by firing squad, with Acting Secretary of the Army Adam Telle scheduling it for 1 p.m. CST on Dec. 3 at Fort Hood — the Texas installation where the 2009 attack took place. President Donald Trump approved the method on Hegseth’s recommendation.

The Dec. 3 execution would mark the first use of a firing squad in the U.S. military since Pvt. Eddie Slovik was put to death in early 1945. Slovik had been convicted of desertion. The last military execution of any kind was that of Pvt. John A. Bennett in April 1961.

Hasan, now 56, was a military doctor at the time of the Nov. 5, 2009 shooting inside Fort Hood’s Soldier Readiness Processing Center. He was convicted in August 2013 by a general court-martial panel of 13 counts of premeditated murder and 32 counts of attempted premeditated murder. The attack killed 12 U.S. soldiers and one civilian employee.

During the shooting, Hasan shouted “Allahu akbar,” Arabic for “God is great.” At his court-martial, Hasan said the shooting was in defense of Taliban leadership in what he described as the United States’ war with Islam. At the time of the attack, the United States was engaged in armed conflict with the Taliban in Afghanistan as part of Washington’s Global War on Terrorism.

Hegseth in his Wednesday remarks placed the execution at “one o’clock, which is when he did it.” The execution is scheduled for Fort Hood, where the 2009 attack took place.