Signers include Abu Ghraib investigator, former NASA administrator

Seventy-two retired US generals, admirals, and other high-ranking military officers have signed an open letter calling on the government to cancel plans to livestream the December 3 execution by firing squad of Nidal Hasan, the Army psychiatrist who killed 13 unarmed soldiers at Fort Hood in 2009.

The signatories, who include 45 generals, 12 admirals, and several former judge advocates general, said they do not oppose the death penalty itself. They argue that broadcasting the execution would violate the US Constitution’s protections against cruel and unusual punishment and would transform “a solemn and grave punishment” into “a carnival for the enjoyment of voyeurs and spectators.”

“We ask the President, our Congressional representatives, and our fellow citizens to act to prevent this barbaric abuse of authority,” the letter states. The officers also warned that publicly broadcasting the execution would “be used by our nation’s enemies to stoke hatred, harm American soldiers and citizens in the future, and will ensure that Hasan becomes a martyr for attacking and killing his fellow soldiers.”

The Pentagon announced last week that it would publicly show the December 3 execution. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced the plan.

President Donald Trump told reporters last week that he “absolutely” approved of the livestream plan, but CBS News, the BBC’s US media partner, reported Tuesday that some administration officials are now leaning against it. According to CBS, Trump had not yet made a final decision on whether to proceed with the broadcast as of Tuesday.

Lawmakers from both parties, as well as religious leaders, have criticized the plan since it was announced.

The letter’s signatories include retired Maj Gen Tony Taguba, who led the Army’s investigation into reported prisoner abuses at Abu Ghraib in Iraq, and retired Air Force Col Moe Davis, a prosecutor at the Guantánamo Bay detention center who has called waterboarding torture. Also among the signers are Charles Bolden, a US Marine Corps Major General who became the head of NASA, and retired Lt Gen Claudia Kennedy, the first woman to become a three-star general in the Army.

Some of the officers retired during Trump’s first term, and others served during the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. The signatories came from throughout the military and include several former judge advocates general.

Hasan, an Army psychiatrist, shot dead 13 unarmed US soldiers at Fort Hood in the deadliest ever non-combat attack on an American base. He said in court that he carried out the shooting believing he was protecting Muslims and the Taliban in Afghanistan from the US military. Hasan was shot during the attack and now uses a wheelchair.

If carried out, the livestream would be the first public execution in the United States in almost a century. The letter warned that “this type of exploitative broadcasting — that debases human dignity — will taint the honor of the military that employs it, and a nation that allows it.”

The open letter was released on Wednesday.