Quick Answer: The Pentagon confirmed Thursday that the December 3 firing-squad execution of Fort Hood shooter Nidal Hasan will be livestreamed. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said the public should be able to watch the first U.S. military execution in 65 years. No government has ever broadcast a legal execution before, experts say — and legal hurdles could still block the plan.
The Pentagon will livestream the firing-squad execution of Fort Hood shooter Nidal Hasan, turning the first U.S. military execution in 65 years into a public event. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth confirmed the plan on Thursday, saying the December 3 execution should be watched by the public. If the Nidal Hasan execution livestreamed plan goes ahead, experts say it would be the first livestreamed legal execution by any government in history — and it may not survive a legal challenge.
Nidal Hasan Execution Livestreamed: How the Announcement Broke
The news broke in stages on Thursday. Hegseth first told the Human Events Daily program that he intended to make Hasan's execution public. Then, in a video posted by official Pentagon accounts on X, he went further: Hasan is "going to get a firing squad of soldiers, as it should be," he said, "and we'll make sure that people are able to watch it, that it's public."
When CBS News reported the execution would be livestreamed, Hegseth replied on X with a single word: "correct." A Pentagon official then confirmed it outright to Reuters: "It will be livestreamed. Details will follow." The Pentagon gave AFP the same confirmation.
U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth confirmed Thursday that the public will be able to watch Nidal Hasan's firing-squad execution. (Photo: U.S. Department of Defense via Wikimedia Commons — public domain)
Aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln, Hegseth told Real America's Voice why he wants the public watching: "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."
Why No Government Has Ever Done This
Media outlets have tried to televise American executions before. Courts blocked every attempt. The Death Penalty Information Center says there is no record of any government, anywhere, livestreaming a legal execution. "We have no record of any execution being livestreamed," the center's executive director, Robin Maher, told USA Today. She cautioned the plan "may be more aspirational than based in reality," since there is "no regulation or precedent" for putting an execution on the internet.
The last legally sanctioned public execution in the United States was in 1936 — the hanging of Rainey Bethea in Owensboro, Kentucky. Since then, executions moved behind prison walls. Today, public executions happen almost exclusively in Iran and Taliban-run Afghanistan; Amnesty International counted 17 in 2025. Legal experts expect a court fight: military law specialist Eugene Fidell of Yale called the plan "extremely, extremely strange" and said Hasan could try to block it by suing in federal court, while historian Jonathan Lurie asked, "What's the point of it? Who would want to see that?"
A SWAT team responds at Fort Hood on November 5, 2009, the day of Hasan's shooting rampage. (Photo: Sgt. Jason Krwczyk, U.S. Army via Wikimedia Commons — public domain)
The Road to December 3
Hasan's execution date was set earlier this week after President Donald Trump approved the firing-squad method on Hegseth's recommendation, Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell said Monday on X. "Judgment day for Hasan has finally come," Parnell wrote. The firing squad is one of several execution methods the Trump administration recently added for the gravest federal crimes, alongside electrocution and gas asphyxiation — driven partly by the growing difficulty of obtaining lethal-injection drugs.
Nidal Hasan in an official 2007 U.S. Army photo. The former Army psychiatrist killed 13 people and wounded 32 at Fort Hood in 2009. (Photo: Uniformed Services University via Wikimedia Commons — public domain)
The timing is deliberately symbolic. "We're going to do it 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," Hegseth said, calling the choice a "no-brainer." The execution would be the first by the U.S. military since 1961, when Army Pvt. John Bennett was hanged, and the first military firing-squad execution since 1945.
Why It Matters
The announcement lands in the middle of a raw national argument about the death penalty. Just last week, Tennessee prison officials botched a lethal injection of death-row inmate Christa Pike, leaving her alive but hospitalized — a failure that cost the state's prison chief his job. Now the Pentagon is pushing capital punishment in the opposite direction: maximum visibility instead of maximum secrecy. Whether the courts let it happen will set the first real precedent either way.
Related: Tennessee Prison Chief Resigns After Failed Execution
What Happens Next
The White House declined to say whether Trump personally supports livestreaming the execution, referring questions to the Pentagon. The Pentagon has promised details but hasn't named a platform or said what the public would actually see. Legal experts expect a fight first: Hasan could file a habeas petition in civilian court that might delay the execution for years — potentially past the current administration. If the livestream plan survives, it would face its own court test before December 3.
The Pentagon confirmed Thursday that Hasan's execution will be livestreamed. (Photo: Touch Of Light via Wikimedia Commons — CC BY-SA 4.0)
Key Takeaways
- The Pentagon confirmed Thursday that Nidal Hasan's December 3 firing-squad execution will be livestreamed — a world first.
- Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth championed the plan, saying the public should "be able to watch it" and that mirroring the 2009 attack's timing was a "no-brainer."
- Hasan killed 13 and wounded 32 at Fort Hood on November 5, 2009, and was sentenced to death by a military jury in 2013.
- It would be the first U.S. military execution since 1961 and the first military firing-squad execution since 1945.
- Experts say no regulation or precedent covers livestreaming an execution, and Hasan could challenge it in federal court.
- The announcement follows last week's botched Tennessee lethal injection, keeping capital punishment at the center of national debate.
Frequently Asked Questions
When is Nidal Hasan's execution scheduled?
December 3 at 1 p.m. Central time at Fort Hood, Texas — a Thursday, deliberately chosen to mirror the day and hour of his November 5, 2009 attack. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth called that choice a "no-brainer." President Trump approved the firing-squad method earlier this week on Hegseth's recommendation.
Who is Nidal Hasan?
Hasan, 56, is a former U.S. Army psychiatrist and major. On November 5, 2009, he opened fire in a medical facility at Fort Hood, killing 13 people and wounding 32. Shot by responding police during his arrest, he was left partially paralyzed and uses a wheelchair. A military jury sentenced him to death in August 2013.
Has any government ever livestreamed an execution?
No. The Death Penalty Information Center says it has "no record of any execution being livestreamed" by any government in the world. Media outlets have tried to televise U.S. executions before but were blocked by courts. The last legally sanctioned public execution in the U.S. was in 1936, when Rainey Bethea was hanged in Owensboro, Kentucky.
Can the Pentagon legally livestream an execution?
That question is untested. There is no regulation or precedent for broadcasting an execution on the internet. Military law expert Eugene Fidell of Yale said Hasan would need to sue in federal court to block it, and the Supreme Court has never addressed the question. The DPIC's Robin Maher suggested the plan "may be more aspirational than based in reality."
Why is Hasan being executed by firing squad?
The Trump administration recently added the firing squad to permissible federal execution methods, alongside electrocution and gas asphyxiation, partly because lethal-injection drugs are increasingly hard to obtain. Hegseth pushed for the method personally. At least five U.S. states have firing squads on the books; South Carolina carried out the first such execution in the country in 15 years in 2025.
What happened in the 2009 Fort Hood shooting?
On November 5, 2009, Hasan walked into a medical building at Fort Hood where soldiers waited in long lines for immunizations and deployment clearances. He shouted "Allahu Akbar" and opened fire, killing 13 — including 12 unarmed active-duty soldiers and a retired serviceman — and wounding 32. It remains one of the deadliest shootings ever at a U.S. military installation.
Sources
- Reuters (via LA Post): "US to livestream Army execution of Fort Hood shooter, Pentagon official says" — https://www.lapost.com/content/us-to-livestream-army-execution-of-fort-hood-shooter-pentagon-official-says
- AFP (via Malay Mail): "Pentagon says Fort Hood shooter's firing-squad execution will be livestreamed" — https://www.malaymail.com/news/world/2026/10/09/pentagon-says-fort-hood-shooters-firing-squad-execution-will-be-livestreamed/238309
- New York Post: "Fort Hood mass shooter Nidal Hasan's execution by firing squad will be livestreamed: Pentagon" — https://nypost.com/2026/10/08/us-news/army-mass-shooter-nadal-hassans-execution-will-be-public-carried-out-at-fort-hood-hegseth/
- USA Today: "Public will be able to watch Fort Hood shooter's execution, Hegseth says" — https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/crime/2026/10/08/nidal-hasan-execution-public-firing-squad/92159829007/
- NDTV: "Execution Of Fort Hood Shooter Will Be Livestreamed: Pentagon" — https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/execution-of-fort-hood-shooter-nidal-malik-hasan-will-be-livestreamed-pentagon-12159304/amp/1
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By GlobalDeskNews Staff