Pentagon confirms first military execution in 60 years will be ‘livestreamed’

The scheduled livestream is the execution of Nidal Hasan, the Army psychiatrist convicted of killing 13 people. It matters because it would be the military’s first death-row execution in more than 60 years.

Hasan’s execution is scheduled for December 3. It is supposed to occur at Fort Hood, Texas, where the 2009 mass shooting happened. Officials said soldiers will use a firing squad, rather than the Army’s usual lethal-injection method.

The Pentagon confirmed the broadcast plan after Secretary Pete Hegseth said it would be public. Hasan was sentenced by an Army court-martial in 2013, and the Supreme Court rejected his review request last year. If carried out, it would also be the first military firing-squad execution in 81 years.

A court-martial is a military criminal trial, similar to a civilian criminal court. It operates under military law and can try service members for serious offenses, including crimes punishable by death. A valid conviction and sentence can authorize military punishment, subject to appeals and reviews.

In Hasan’s case, an Army court-martial tried him for the 2009 Fort Hood shooting, which killed 13 people. The court sentenced him to death in 2013. That sentence came through the military justice system because Hasan was an Army major, and the Supreme Court rejected his review request last year.

Four soldiers are currently on military death row, according to the article. Hasan’s execution is scheduled for December 3 at Fort Hood, using a firing squad. That differs from Army regulations, which specify lethal injection, showing that execution methods remain a separate military procedure.

A military execution is extraordinarily rare. Only four soldiers are on military death row, and no U.S. military execution has occurred since 1961. That makes Hasan’s planned execution the first in more than 60 years.

Nidal Hasan, an Army psychiatrist, killed 13 people at Fort Hood in 2009. An Army court-martial sentenced him to death in 2013, and the Supreme Court rejected his review request last year. Officials plan a firing squad at Fort Hood, rather than the lethal injection required by Army regulation.

The execution is scheduled for December 3, and officials say it will be livestreamed publicly. The last soldier was Pvt. John Bennett, hanged in 1961. A firing-squad execution would also be the first military death-row shooting in 81 years, since Pvt. Eddie Slovik’s 1945 execution.

Using a soldiers’ firing squad would change both the method and setting of the planned execution. The Army normally requires lethal injection. Soldiers would instead shoot Hasan at Fort Hood, where the killings occurred.

Hasan, an Army major, killed 13 people there and received a death sentence in 2013. Officials would have soldiers carry out the sentence, rather than using lethal drugs. This makes the execution a direct military action at the crime scene.

The result would be a highly unusual military execution, planned for December 3 and livestreamed publicly. It would be the first military death-row execution in more than 60 years. It would also be the first military firing-squad execution in 81 years. The article does not say the method would change the sentence’s legal effect.

Terre Haute was originally chosen because it has hosted civilian death-row executions since 2001. The military’s plan, called Operation Resolute Justice, would have moved prisoners from Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, to that federal prison.

Hasan’s case shows the institutional difference. He was convicted by an Army court-martial, not a civilian court, and remains on military death row. Military rules say executions use lethal injection, but officials now plan a soldiers’ firing squad at Fort Hood, where the 2009 shooting occurred.

Civilian and military executions therefore involve different systems and locations, while this case also uses a different method from the Army’s written rule. The article does not describe civilian execution methods or procedures in detail. Hasan’s execution is scheduled for December 3, and officials say it will be livestreamed, making this a highly public military precedent.

In the military justice system, a death sentence follows a court-martial conviction and review by higher courts. Appeals can delay execution, giving the accused chances to challenge the verdict or sentence. Only after those reviews does the Defense Department arrange the execution.

Nidal Hasan was convicted by an Army court-martial in 2013 for killing 13 people at Fort Hood in 2009. The Supreme Court rejected his review request last year. Officials then scheduled his execution for December 3, using a soldiers’ firing squad at Fort Hood, rather than lethal injection.

This case shows that military executions depend on both legal review and Defense Department decisions about timing and location. Four soldiers are on military death row, and Hasan would be the first soldier executed in over 60 years. The planned livestream also makes this execution unusually public.