Pentagon Says Firing-Squad Execution of Fort Hood Shooter Will Be Livestreamed

The Pentagon stated on Thursday that the firing-squad execution of Nidal Malik Hasan, the former Army major convicted of the 2009 Fort Hood shooting, will be livestreamed. The execution is scheduled for 3 December 2026 at Fort Hood, Texas. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told the outlet Real America’s Voice that the public would be able to watch and that people needed to understand there are serious consequences. A Pentagon official confirmed the livestream plan to multiple news organisations.

Hasan was convicted in 2013 of killing 13 people and wounding more than 30 others in the 5 November 2009 attack at the base. He was an Army psychiatrist. Investigators found he had exchanged emails with Anwar al-Awlaki before the shooting. President Donald Trump approved the firing-squad method on Hegseth’s recommendation. The last U.S. military execution occurred in 1961. The last known military firing-squad execution was in 1945.

On Friday Vice President JD Vance told reporters he had seen the announcements but did not know that a livestream would happen, and that he would not watch it if it did. President Trump said officials were still making a determination. The White House referred questions to the Pentagon. Legal observers noted that a public or livestreamed military execution has no modern precedent in the United States and that releasing video of executions is more commonly associated with non-state groups.

Hegseth said the timing would coincide with the hour of the original attack and that he did not care about any final requests from Hasan. The decision follows a recent botched lethal-injection attempt in Tennessee that left the prisoner alive. For the military justice system the planned execution ends a long appeals process. Whether the event is ultimately streamed, and under what technical and legal conditions, remains subject to the further clarification Vance’s remarks introduced.

The core facts are the scheduled date, the method, the conviction record, and the initial Pentagon statement that a livestream would occur. Subsequent comments from the vice president indicate that the final form of public access is not yet settled. The execution, if carried out, would be the first by the U.S. military in more than six decades.