Secretary of War Pete Hegseth on Thursday defended plans to execute Fort Hood gunman Nidal Hasan by firing squad at the Texas installation, saying the location and hour were chosen to mirror the 2009 attack that killed 13 people.
“No-brainer—execution by firing squad,” Hegseth said in remarks circulated by the Department of War’s rapid-response account. “Of course we’re doing it at Fort Hood. We’re going to do it at 1 o’clock—which is when he did it. It’s going to be soldiers with rifles executing the firing squad.”
Secretary Hegseth was asked about the execution of Nidal Hasan:
"No-brainer—execution by firing squad…
Of course we're doing it at Fort Hood. We're going to do it at 1 o'clock—which is when he did it. It's going to be soldiers with rifles executing the firing squad." pic.twitter.com/QqjJrAZK41
— DOW Rapid Response (@DOWResponse) October 8, 2026
Hasan’s execution is scheduled for Dec. 3 at 1 p.m. Central Time. Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell announced Monday that President Donald Trump had approved Hegseth’s recommendation to use an Army firing squad. Acting Army Secretary Adam Telle then directed that the execution take place at Fort Hood.
Hasan, an Army psychiatrist, opened fire inside the installation’s soldier readiness processing center on Nov. 5, 2009, as troops prepared for deployments. He killed 12 active-duty soldiers and one retired service member and wounded 32 others. Authorities said he shouted “Allahu Akbar” during the attack. A responding civilian police officer shot him, leaving him partially paralyzed.
A military jury convicted Hasan in August 2013 of 13 counts of premeditated murder and 32 counts of attempted murder and unanimously sentenced him to death. Hasan admitted carrying out the attack and said during the proceedings that he had acted to protect Muslims and the Taliban from U.S. forces in Afghanistan. He had previously communicated with radical cleric Anwar al-Awlaki.
The Supreme Court declined to review Hasan’s conviction in March 2025. Army officials said Trump approved the death sentence on Oct. 2, after the military appellate process had concluded. Military law requires presidential approval before a death sentence can be carried out.
If the execution proceeds, it would be the military’s first since Army Pvt. John Bennett was hanged at Fort Leavenworth in 1961, and its first by Army firing squad since Pvt. Eddie Slovik was executed for desertion in France in 1945.
Officials have released no further procedural details. Additional challenges in federal court could still delay the execution.
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