Pentagon Plans to Livestream Firing Squad Execution of Nidal Hasan
The unprecedented military broadcast proposal prompted bipartisan congressional opposition and international warnings of human rights violations.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced that the military will publicly livestream the firing-squad execution of former Army Major Nidal Malik Hasan. The execution is scheduled for Dec. 3, 2026, at Fort Hood in Texas. The Department of Defense confirmed the plan and stated that broadcast details would follow.
President Donald Trump authorized the execution order earlier in the week. Trump told reporters on the White House South Lawn that Hasan deserved the death penalty. Trump gave conflicting responses about the livestream, first saying he had not decided and later answering in the affirmative.
Hegseth announced the plan aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln. He said a public execution would show there are serious consequences for radical Islamist attacks in military ranks. Vice President JD Vance said aboard Air Force Two that he would not watch the broadcast and doubted it would occur.
The proposal drew swift criticism from both parties in Congress. Senator Jack Reed called the plan a barbaric spectacle that would offer Hasan a global platform for terrorist propaganda.
Republican Senator Thom Tillis described the plan as beyond disgusting and noted that oppressive dictatorships conduct public executions. Republican Representative Austin Scott supported capital punishment for Hasan but stated that broadcasting executions is something jihadists do.
United Nations human rights officials said livestreaming an execution constitutes a public execution that violates international bans on torture. Archbishop Paul Coakley, writing for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, stated that a public execution undermines the nation's moral fabric.
Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr said the agency will defer to Hegseth on whether networks can air the event. Army regulations state that no person under age 18 may witness an execution.
A military panel convicted Hasan in 2013 for the 2009 shooting at Fort Hood that killed 13 people and wounded 32 others. The 56-year-old former psychiatrist is paralyzed from the waist down and uses a wheelchair. The military last carried out a firing-squad execution in 1945 and last executed any inmate in 1961.
The execution is set for 1:00 p.m. local time unless civilian courts intervene. Hasan retains the right to file a federal habeas corpus petition, which could delay the execution for years. The Pentagon said it will release technical and operational logistics for the broadcast if the plan proceeds.
