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The Pentagon has confirmed that Nidal Malik Hasan, the former US Army major and physician responsible for the 2009 Fort Hood massacre, will be put to death by firing squad. The announcement marks the first military execution using that method since the conclusion of World War Two, making it a historically significant moment in the modern application of American military justice.
Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell disclosed the decision on social media on Monday, explaining that Secretary of War Pete Hegseth had recommended the execution and that President Donald Trump had given final approval. "Judgement day for Hasan has finally come," Parnell wrote on X, signaling the end of a legal process that has stretched for more than a decade. The Secretary of the Army will now determine the specific time and location for the execution.
Hasan's crimes date back to 5 November 2009, when he opened fire inside a crowded medical building at Fort Hood in Texas. The facility was filled with soldiers undergoing routine check-ups and vaccinations before deployment. In total, 13 unarmed US service members were killed and another 32 were wounded, making the assault the deadliest non-combat attack ever carried out on an American military base.
A jury panel composed of 13 officers convicted Hasan of 13 counts of premeditated murder and 32 counts of attempted murder. That same panel unanimously recommended the death penalty. During his 2013 court-martial, Hasan admitted in open court that he was the gunman and offered an apology for what he described as "any mistakes." He also stated that he believed his actions were protecting Muslims and the Taliban in Afghanistan, a justification that underscored the ideological dimensions of the attack.
Hasan, a Virginia native, had served as a US Army psychiatrist before the shooting. His military background and medical training have made the case particularly disturbing for many observers, given that he was trusted with the mental health of fellow soldiers before turning on them. He is currently one of only four inmates held on the US military's death row, a small population that reflects the rarity of capital convictions within the military justice system.
The path to execution for Hasan is neither automatic nor swift. Under military law, a president must personally approve any military execution. The process also requires appellate review and a final judgment confirming the legality of the sentence before it can proceed. Those procedural safeguards mean that further legal challenges could still arise, although the Pentagon's announcement suggests that the highest levels of government now consider the case ready to move forward.
The US Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces ruled the military death penalty unconstitutional in 1983, but the practice was reinstated the following year through an executive order issued by then-President Ronald Reagan. That history illustrates how the military's capital punishment framework has been contested and reshaped over time, often reflecting broader political shifts in how America approaches the death penalty.
Military executions operate under a distinct set of rules compared with those carried out by individual states. Capital punishment remains a legally available option at the state level in 27 states, as well as under the military and federal systems. The majority of executions in the United States are conducted by states, meaning a military firing squad represents a rare convergence of federal authority, military law, and an execution method that has largely fallen out of use across the country.
Death by firing squad is an uncommon method even in state jurisdictions. Last year, South Carolina carried out an execution by firing squad, the first in that state's history and the first time the method had been used anywhere in the US in 15 years. Only four other states permit the firing squad as an option: Idaho, Mississippi, Oklahoma, and Utah. Its return in a military context therefore places the Hasan case at the intersection of two unusual trends.
President Trump has been a vocal supporter of the federal death penalty and moved quickly to reinstate it after taking office. On his first day in January 2025, he signed an executive order restoring federal capital punishment, reversing the moratorium that had been imposed under his predecessor, former President Joe Biden. Under Biden, the Justice Department had paused federal executions, a policy that Trump's order explicitly dismantled.
The executive order signed by Trump framed capital punishment as "an essential tool for deterring and punishing those who would commit the most heinous crimes and acts of lethal violence against American citizens." That language reflects a broader philosophical stance that has shaped his administration's approach to criminal justice, and it provides the political backdrop against which the Hasan decision was made.
For the families of the 13 soldiers killed at Fort Hood, the announcement may bring a measure of closure after years of legal proceedings. Many survivors and relatives have waited through appeals and procedural delays, uncertain whether the sentence would ever be carried out. The wounded, some of whom still live with lasting physical and psychological injuries, have also followed the case closely.
The decision also raises broader questions about the use of capital punishment within the military justice system. Critics argue that military executions carry unique concerns, including the potential for error in a system where commanders and panels play central roles. Supporters counter that the gravity of Hasan's crimes, carried out against unarmed service members on a domestic base, demands the most severe penalty available under the law.
The timing and location of the execution will be set by the Secretary of the Army, and the case will continue to draw national attention as it moves toward its final stage. Regardless of the eventual date, the Pentagon's announcement ensures that Hasan's name will be permanently linked to a rare chapter in American military history: the first firing squad execution of a US service member since the Second World War.
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