The planned execution of Nidal Malik Hasan, the former US Army psychiatrist convicted of killing 13 people at Fort Hood in 2009, is set to be livestreamed, according to the Pentagon. The announcement comes ahead of what would be the first US military execution in more than 65 years.
The Army has announced that Hasan’s execution is scheduled for December 3 at Fort Hood, the Texas military installation where the shooting took place. Hasan was convicted of killing 13 people and wounding 32 others in one of the deadliest attacks on a US military base.
US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth discussed plans to make the execution public during an interview with conservative broadcaster Real America’s Voice on Wednesday. “We’ll make sure that people are able to watch it, that it’s public,” he said.
Pentagon officials confirmed on Thursday that the execution would be livestreamed, adding that further details would be provided later.
Hasan, a US-born Muslim of Palestinian descent, carried out the attack on November 5, 2009, at a medical facility inside Fort Hood, then one of the main bases used to prepare soldiers for deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan. The shooting targeted military personnel at a time when the United States was engaged in wars in both countries.
Thirteen people died in the attack, including 12 soldiers, while 32 others were injured, 30 of them military personnel. Hasan was shot by a civilian police officer who responded to the scene and was left partially paralyzed.
The case drew national attention because of Hasan’s military background and the circumstances surrounding the attack. He had served as an Army psychiatrist and opposed the US military campaigns in Iraq and Afghanistan. Investigators also examined his online communications with Anwar al-Awlaki, a US-born radical cleric linked to al-Qaeda who was later killed in a US drone strike in Yemen.
A military jury convicted Hasan in 2013 of 13 counts of premeditated murder and 32 counts of attempted premeditated murder. The jury sentenced him to death, placing him among the small number of prisoners on the US military’s death row.
The planned execution would mark a rare moment in the history of the US military justice system. The last military execution took place in 1961, when Army soldier John A. Bennett was hanged. A firing squad has not been used for a US military execution since 1945, according to the Death Penalty Information Center.
The Pentagon has not yet released full details of how the livestream will be conducted or who will be able to access it. The decision to broadcast the execution publicly places renewed attention on the US military death penalty and the government’s approach to making an execution available for public viewing.
The Army has scheduled the execution for December 3, 2026, at Fort Hood, Texas, at 1 p.m. Central time. Although the date has been formally set, further legal proceedings could affect whether the execution takes place as scheduled.
