The Pentagon confirmed Nidal Hasan’s Dec. 3 firing-squad execution will be livestreamed at Fort Hood, giving the public a clear view of long-delayed justice for the 2009 attack that killed 13.
A War Department official told Fox News Digital the execution of the convicted Fort Hood shooter will be carried live, with more information still to come. Hasan, a former Army major, has sat on military death row at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, since a military jury sentenced him to death in 2013.
The scheduled date is Dec. 3 at Fort Hood, Texas, the same post where he opened fire on unarmed soldiers and civilians. If carried out, it would be the first U.S. military execution since 1961 and the first by firing squad since 1945.
President Donald Trump approved the Army firing squad after War Secretary Pete Hegseth recommended it. Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell had already signaled the end of the long wait.
Parnell stated on X:
"Judgment day for Hasan has finally come."
On Nov. 5, 2009, Hasan shouted “Allahu Akbar” and opened fire inside Fort Hood. Thirteen people died. Thirty-two others were wounded. He targeted soldiers preparing for deployment and the civilians around them.
A military court convicted him in 2013 and handed down the death sentence. He has remained on death row at Fort Leavenworth ever since while appeals and reviews dragged on. The coming execution ends more than a decade of delay for the families who lost husbands, wives, sons, and daughters that day.
The method itself is deliberate. Trump signed off on an Army firing squad rather than another form of capital punishment. Hegseth framed the choice in plain terms when he discussed the plan publicly.
The New York Post reported Hegseth’s insistence that the public should see the outcome:
"We're gonna 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."
When asked about any final requests from Hasan, Hegseth’s reply was blunt:
"Don't care. We'll see him on December 3rd."
A Pentagon official confirmed the technical plan in a short statement that left logistics for later.
"It will be livestreamed. Details will follow."
Breitbart carried Hegseth’s further description of how the sentence will be carried out:
"He’s going to get a firing squad of soldiers, as it should be, and we’ll make sure that people are able to watch it, that it’s public."
That public element is the point. For years, capital cases involving military personnel have stayed largely out of sight. This one will not. Viewers will see the sentence imposed at the place where the murders happened.
The last U.S. military execution took place in 1961 by hanging. The last military firing squad dated to 1945, when Pvt. Eddie Slovik was shot for desertion in World War II. Hasan’s case therefore marks two firsts at once: the return of military capital punishment after more than six decades, and the return of the firing squad after eight.
Hasan’s conviction never erased the sense that justice had stalled. Families waited through appeals, reviews, and changes in administration. The current decision chain is short and clear: Hegseth recommended the firing squad, Trump approved it, and the Pentagon set the date and the livestream.
Fort Hood itself carries the memory. The post, now often referred to in newer materials by its later name, remains the site of both the original massacre and the scheduled execution. Bringing Hasan back there for the sentence underlines the link between the crime and the penalty.
No full operational details on camera angles, access rules, or exact start time have been released. The official line remains that those will follow. What is already locked in is the method, the location, the date, and the decision to make the event visible.
Hasan was a serving Army major when he turned his weapon on fellow service members. He used a religious battle cry while killing unarmed people on a U.S. military installation. The military justice system tried him, convicted him, and sentenced him to death. The civilian leadership has now cleared the final steps to carry that sentence out in the open.
For the survivors and the families of the 13 dead, Dec. 3 is the date that finally arrives after sixteen years. For everyone else, the livestream removes any remaining distance between the crime and its consequence.
Justice delayed is still justice when it finally shows up in public and does not blink.
