Trump approves firing-squad execution for Fort Hood attacker

On 6 October 2026, the Pentagon said that President Donald Trump authorised former major Nidal Malik Hasan’s execution by an Army firing squad for the 2009 mass shooting at Fort Hood, Texas. Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth recommended the method, while the Army secretary will decide the execution’s time and location.¹²⁴⁷

Presidential approval

Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell announced that Hegseth had recommended death by US Army firing squad and that Trump had approved it. Parnell said the Army secretary would set the time and place. No execution date or location was disclosed in the reports, and the available information does not say when the remaining steps will be completed.¹²³⁴

Presidential approval is required for a military execution, according to the BBC, which said the process also requires appellate review and a final legal judgment. On 31 March 2025, the Supreme Court denied Hasan’s petition seeking review of his conviction, CNBC reported. CBS separately reported that the court declined to consider his challenge concerning access to his trial.¹³⁷

The Fort Hood attack

Hasan carried out the attack at Fort Hood in November 2009, killing 13 people and wounding more than two dozen. Twelve of those killed and 30 of the wounded were soldiers, according to reports cited by France 24, The Straits Times and the South China Morning Post. According to The Guardian, Hasan, an Army psychiatrist, began shooting at a base medical facility on 5 November before a responding civilian police officer shot him, leaving him partly paralysed.²⁴⁵⁶

In 2013, a military panel imposed a death sentence on Hasan. The BBC said the panel found him guilty of 13 premeditated-murder charges and 32 attempted-murder charges, then unanimously endorsed a death sentence. CBS said Hasan acknowledged responsibility during the trial.¹²⁷

Hasan conducted his own defence, called no witnesses and did not testify. He did not seek to deny the charges, while court-appointed defence lawyers expressed concern that he was trying to secure his own execution. CBS reported that he clashed with the standby lawyers assigned to assist him.⁴⁵⁶⁷

Hasan, who was born in the United States and is Muslim and of Palestinian descent, opposed the US military presence in Iraq and Afghanistan. Sources also reported that he communicated online with Anwar al-Awlaki, described as an alleged Al-Qaeda figure. At trial, Hasan said he had shot at fellow Army members in an effort to protect Islamic insurgents from US military forces.²⁴⁵⁶

A rare military punishment

Hasan is one of four people currently under death sentences imposed by US military courts-martial. Reports describe the historical significance differently: the BBC said it would be the first military execution by firing squad since World War II, whereas CBS said Hasan’s case might result in the first execution by the US military of a US service member since 1961.¹³⁷

CNBC reported that the 1961 military execution involved John Bennett, who was hanged at Fort Leavenworth after a court-martial conviction. The BBC said a military appeals court found the armed forces’ death-penalty system unconstitutional in 1983 and that it was restored by executive order the following year. Trump issued an executive order reinstating the federal death penalty in January 2025 and described capital punishment as a deterrent and a means of punishment.¹³