Pentagon says Nidal Hasan’s planned firing-squad execution will be livestreamed

The Pentagon said Thursday that it plans to livestream the firing-squad execution of Nidal Hasan, scheduled for December 3 at Fort Hood, Texas. Hasan was convicted of killing 13 people in a 2009 shooting at the military base. Officials said more details would follow, leaving the means of public access unresolved.

The confirmation followed Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s promise that people would be able to watch the execution. The livestream plan adds a public-broadcast element to a military death sentence that President Donald Trump approved for execution by firing squad earlier this week. The execution has not taken place, and its scheduled date could change.

What the Pentagon has said about the livestream

In an interview with Real America’s Voice, Hegseth told interviewer Jack Posobiec: ‘We’ll make sure that people are able to watch it, that it’s public.’ He said people needed to understand that there were ‘serious consequences’ for acts such as the Fort Hood shooting. Pentagon officials subsequently specified that the execution would be livestreamed, according to the reports.

The Pentagon has not set out a streaming platform, access rules or other production arrangements in the reporting available so far. It is also unclear whether troops, officials or other spectators will be present in person. The White House referred questions about the livestream plan to the Pentagon, France 24 reported.

Hasan’s sentence and the December 3 schedule

Hasan, a former Army psychiatrist and major, was sentenced to death in August 2013 after a military jury convicted him of 45 counts of premeditated murder and attempted murder. The 2009 attack at Fort Hood killed 13 people and injured 32, according to the accounts. The planned execution concerns that military sentence.

Hegseth said the execution was scheduled for December 3 at Fort Hood. Al Jazeera reported that he gave the time as 1 p.m. US Central Time, matching the time of day of the shooting. The Pentagon’s reported livestream clarification supplied no further logistical detail. Asked whether Hasan had made a final request, Hegseth replied: ‘Don’t care. We’ll see him on December 3rd.’

A Pentagon spokesperson said Monday that Trump had approved Hasan’s execution, France 24 reported. Al Jazeera said approval from both Trump and Hegseth was required and that Trump authorised the firing-squad method. Those approvals establish the administration’s plan; they do not settle whether any court action will affect the date.

Why the method and public access matter

If carried out, this would be the first US military execution by firing squad since 1945, when the military used the method for a desertion case during World War II, according to Al Jazeera. The long interval makes the proposed method notable in its own right. The Pentagon’s plan to livestream it raises separate questions about how much of a military execution the public would see.

The administration announced in April that it would add firing squad, gas asphyxiation and electrocution as acceptable methods for federal executions, Al Jazeera reported. That federal policy is context for the administration’s approach to capital punishment; Hasan’s case is a military execution. The reported Pentagon statement concerns this specific planned execution and its broadcast.

Euronews reported that Fordham University law professor Deborah Denno saw a possible transparency benefit in letting the public observe an execution. Her assessment does not establish the Pentagon’s purpose or resolve how access would be arranged. The department has said further details will follow, leaving the practical meaning of a public livestream open.

Could the execution be delayed?

Hasan could seek review in civilian court through a habeas petition, according to Al Jazeera and France 24. Such a challenge could significantly delay the execution. Eugene R. Fidell, a military-law specialist and visiting lecturer at Yale Law School, told the outlets that litigation might even outlast the current administration. That is an assessment of a possible legal path, not a report that a new petition has been filed.