For Hood, Texas shooter Nidal Hasan is set to be executed on December 3, and the US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth wants a spectacle out of it.
Hasan, who is convicted of the 2009 shooting in Fort Hood that killed 23 and injured 33, is set to be executed by a firing squad of the United States Army. On Thursday, October 8, the US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth told NewsNation that he plans to make sure that "people are able to watch it."
"We'll make sure that people are able to watch it," Hegseth said Thursday. "That it's public. Because people need to understand that there's serious consequences for these types of things."
Hegseth's comments sparked murmurs about the consequences of the visuals of the US's first firing squad execution since 1945 being potentially broadcast live. Here, we will take a look at what we know so far about the US Army's plans amid Pete Hegseth's remarks.
Will Nidal Hasan's Execution Be Broadcast Live?
{{/usCountry}}Will Nidal Hasan's Execution Be Broadcast Live?
{{/usCountry}}The US Army has revealed very little details about how the firing squad execution of Nidal Hasan, a former US Army veteran, will be carried out. The Associated Press reached out to the US Army seeking answers, but the Army did not provide any details.
In the aftermath of Hegseth's comments, Axios reports that it is not yet clear if the December 3 execution will be broadcast live on TV or streaming. It could also be that a select few spectators are allowed to watch it.
However, an official clarification on whether Pete Hegseth intends to make the execution "public" was not immediately available.
According to the regulations of the US Army, up to two media organizations can be present during an execution. The US has never seen a publicly broadcasted execution that was legal. The last documented case of a public execution was the hanging of Rainey Bethea on August 14, 1936.
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Nidal Hasan Case: What To Know
Nidal Hasan, a former US Army psychiatrist who carried out the Fort Hood shooting in 2009, faced a military capital murder prosecution. Hasan open fired at the Soldiers Readiness Processing Center in Fort Hood killing 13 and injuring several. His motive was opposition to the US's wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
He was convicted on August 28, 2013, of 13 counts of premeditated murder and 32 counts of attempted premeditated murder and received a death-by-execution sentence. After decades of appeals, the death sentence by firing squad was approved by Donald Trump in October 2026.