WASHINGTON, D.C. | The U.S. Department of Defense plans to livestream the scheduled execution of former Army psychiatrist Nidal Malik Hasan, who was sentenced to death for killing 13 people and injuring 32 others in a 2009 shooting at Fort Hood, Texas. Pentagon officials confirmed the plan on October 8, according to Reuters and the Associated Press, raising questions about the public broadcasting of a U.S. military execution.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced that the execution would be made public. The Army has scheduled it for 1 p.m. Central Standard Time on December 3, 2026, at Fort Cavazos, the military installation formerly known as Fort Hood.
Hasan was convicted by a military court in August 2013 after representing himself during much of the trial. On November 5, 2009, he opened fire at the base’s Soldier Readiness Processing Center, where service members were preparing for deployment. The attack killed 13 people, including 12 soldiers and one civilian, and wounded 32 others. Hasan was shot by police during his arrest and was left partially paralyzed.
The shooting became one of the deadliest attacks ever carried out on a U.S. military installation. It also prompted scrutiny of whether warning signs about Hasan’s behavior and contacts had been adequately addressed before the attack.
The Army said President Donald Trump approved Hasan’s death sentence on October 2, 2026, following the completion of the military appeals process. The U.S. Supreme Court declined to review his court-martial conviction in March 2025. However, Hasan may still pursue certain legal challenges in federal court, potentially affecting the scheduled execution.
The planned livestream would represent a significant departure from modern U.S. execution practices. The last widely recognized public execution in the United States took place in 1936, when Rainey Bethea was hanged in Owensboro, Kentucky, before a crowd. Since then, executions have generally been conducted in controlled settings with limited witnesses. The U.S. military last carried out an execution in 1961.
The military’s use of a firing squad also carries historical significance. Although the method has largely disappeared from civilian practice, it remains an authorized execution method under certain circumstances in some U.S. jurisdictions. The Pentagon has not yet released full details on how the planned livestream will operate or who will be permitted to view it.
The decision has prompted debate over transparency, the ethics of capital punishment and the risk of turning an execution into a public spectacle. Supporters of public access may argue that it allows greater scrutiny of state action, while critics question whether broadcasting an execution serves a legitimate public purpose.
The planned execution remains subject to any further legal proceedings that could affect its timing.
Edgardo Hernal started college at UP Diliman and received his BA in Economics from San Sebastian College, Manila, and Masters in Information Systems Management from Keller Graduate School of Management of DeVry University in Oak Brook, IL. He has 25 years of copy editing and management experience at Thomson West, a subsidiary of Thomson Reuters.
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