President Trump has approved the execution of Fort Hood terrorist Nidal Hasan by firing squad, marking the first U.S. military execution of its kind in more than 60 years.
Quick Take
- Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth recommended the firing squad method, and President Trump approved it.
- Hasan was convicted for the 2009 Fort Hood shooting that killed 13 people and wounded dozens more.
- This would be the first U.S. military execution since 1961 and the first by firing squad since World War Two.
- The decision follows Idaho’s switch to firing squad as its main execution method earlier this year.
Pentagon Confirms Approval From Trump and Hegseth
Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell announced the decision this week, stating plainly that “Secretary of War Pete Hegseth has recommended — and President Donald J. Trump has approved — death by U.S. Army firing squad for convicted terrorist Nidal Malik Hasan.” The statement leaves no doubt about who made the call. It names both men directly and spells out the method chosen to carry out justice for one of the deadliest attacks ever committed on a U.S. military base.
Multiple outlets, including the New York Post, independently confirmed the same Pentagon language tying the decision to both Hegseth’s recommendation and Trump’s sign-off. That consistency across separate newsrooms gives the public a clear, reliable picture of what happened, even though the full written order approving the method has not been released publicly.
The 2009 Fort Hood Massacre That Led to This Moment
Hasan, an Army major and psychiatrist, opened fire on fellow soldiers at Fort Hood, Texas, in November 2009. He killed 13 people and wounded more than 30 others before being stopped. A military jury convicted him and sentenced him to death. For years afterward, Hasan sat on military death row while his case worked through appeals, with no execution carried out under prior administrations.
His case has long frustrated families of the victims and veterans who watched the legal process drag on for more than a decade without resolution. The Pentagon’s new approval under Trump and Hegseth signals an end to that delay, moving the case toward an actual execution date rather than another round of appeals and waiting.
A Rare Method Returning to American Justice
If carried out, this would be the U.S. military’s first execution of a service member since 1961, when a soldier was hanged for raping and attempting to murder an 11-year-old girl. It would also be the first military execution by firing squad since World War Two, when the Army shot deserter Eddie Slovik in France in 1945.
Firing squad executions are historically rare across the entire American justice system, not just the military. Death penalty researchers note that firing squads account for only a small fraction of executions carried out since 1976, with just two states having used the method in the modern era. Choosing it for Hasan marks a notable break from decades of relying almost exclusively on lethal injection.
Idaho’s Firing Squad Law and the Broader Shift
The Hasan decision comes months after Idaho made firing squad its primary method of execution, a change that took effect July 1 after years of problems carrying out lethal injection. Idaho joined four other states, including Utah and South Carolina, that already allow the method in certain circumstances. That state-level shift has put firing squad executions back in the national conversation after decades on the sidelines.
Whether or not the timing is connected, the broader trend is clear. States and now the federal government are turning to a method once seen as a relic of the past because it offers a swift, certain outcome when other methods have run into legal and practical trouble. For a case as serious as Hasan’s, that certainty matters to a country that has waited 16 years for justice.
Sources:
idahostatesman.com, washingtonexaminer.com, nypost.com
