The Pentagon confirmed that former U.S. Army psychiatrist Nidal Hasan will be put to death by firing squad, a method not used by the U.S. military since World War II. The decision follows a formal recommendation from Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and final approval by President Donald Trump. An official post on X by Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell declared, “Judgement day for Hasan has finally come.” The execution is slated for Dec. 3 at Fort Hood, Texas.
Hasan’s case stems from the November 2009 massacre at the Soldier Readiness Processing Center on Fort Hood, where he opened fire, shouted “Allahu akbar,” and killed 13 individuals while wounding 32 others. The attack concluded when civilian security officers shot him, leaving him paralyzed from the waist down. Convicted in 2013 on 13 counts of premeditated murder and 32 counts of attempted murder, he was sentenced to death, triggering an automatic appeals process that only ended when the Supreme Court rejected his final petition in the spring of 2025.
Approval process and upcoming timetable
Secretary of the Army Adam Telle issued an order on Tuesday that set the execution date for Dec. 3, complying with Army regulation that mandates an execution to occur between 60 and 150 days after presidential approval. The rule also grants the Secretary of the Army authority over the time, place, and method once the President signs off. Hegseth has publicly affirmed his stance, stating, “100 percent committed to ensuring the death penalty is carried out for Nidal Hasan.” The Pentagon has not provided further details beyond the public statements.
Potential legal obstacles
Even with the President’s green light, Hasan can still seek a stay by filing a habeas corpus petition in federal court. Robin Maher executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center, warned that the approval is “another step closer to his execution” but not a guarantee of an imminent death. Historical precedent shows that executive approval does not always translate into swift execution; for example, Ronald Gray, convicted of multiple murders near Fort Bragg in the 1980s, remains on military death row despite a 2008 presidential approval.
Under current law, a federal appeal can delay the schedule indefinitely, and the courts will evaluate whether the method and process meet constitutional standards. The military’s last execution was in 1961, when Private John Bennett was hanged for the rape and attempted murder of an Austrian girl, making Hasan’s case a rare convergence of legal, procedural, and political factors.
Historical backdrop and the firing-squad debate
The use of a firing squad evokes a long, contentious history. The United States’ earliest recorded execution by shooting occurred in Jamestown, Va., in 1608, and firing squads saw limited use during the Civil War. The last military firing-squad execution took place in 1945, when Private Eddie Slovik was shot for desertion in France. Deborah Denno a professor at Fordham Law School, notes that while the method is one of the country’s oldest, it “has always been controversial because people associate it with extreme barbarity and … the Wild West.”
Recent botched lethal-injection cases—most notably the Tennessee execution of Christa Pike—have reignited discussion about alternative methods. Some scholars, such as Corinna Lain argue that firing squads may be the “least inhumane” option when performed correctly, delivering death in seconds. Yet others, including Yale Law professor Eugene Fidell suggest that announcing executions via social media is inappropriate for an institution that has not carried out a death sentence since 1961.
Seven states now retain firing squads as a legal option, the highest number ever recorded, after the Justice Department made the method available for federal executions earlier this year. The resurgence of the firing squad in Hasan’s case could signal a broader shift in how the death penalty is applied, especially as public support for capital punishment continues to decline. A 2025 Gallup poll reported the lowest five-decade support level, with younger voters leading the opposition.
Regardless of the method chosen, the upcoming execution marks a watershed moment for the U.S. military justice system. It will be the first execution carried out under the revised 2023 Army regulations that give the President discretion over the method, and it will bring the total number of military death-row inmates—currently four, all housed at the United States Disciplinary Barracks in Fort Leavenworth, Kansas—to a new legal and ethical crossroads.
