President Donald Trump has authorised an execution order for Nidal Malik Hasan, the former Army officer convicted of carrying out the 2009 Fort Hood mass shooting in Texas. A jury found Hasan responsible for the deaths of 13 people in the shooting, and panellists on the court-martial voted unanimously to impose the death penalty — the harshest sentence available under military law.
During the assault, Hasan told the court he had carried out the shootings, citing his objection to an imminent deployment to Afghanistan and raising concerns about what he described as anti-Muslim treatment within the armed forces. Relatives contended that his faith had been the basis for unequal treatment he encountered throughout his time in service.
In September 2025, the defense secretary brought the matter to the president, indicating that authorisation from the White House was the remaining step before the execution could proceed. Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell announced on Monday that Trump had granted authorisation for the execution, adding that scheduling and location would be determined by the Secretary of the Army.
Parnell wrote on X that the time for Hasan to face consequences had arrived. The Pentagon separately disclosed plans to carry out three additional executions of inmates on the military's death row.
In 1961, Army private John Bennett became the last person put to death under military authority, executed by hanging. A conviction for rape and the attempted killing of an Austrian girl formed the basis of the case against Bennett, who was of Black heritage. A number of analyses, looking back at how the case was managed, found the procedures followed at the time open to scrutiny. Records from that period show that of the fourteen military prisoners on death row, all eight who were put to death were Black, while the six who were not executed were white.
Data from the Death Penalty Information Center shows that firing squads accounted for just 34 of the more than 8,700 executions recorded across the United States in the period spanning 1890 through 2010. Where that practice remains on the books, only a handful of states have put it into law. Moves to allow firing squads as an execution method formed part of a wider effort by the administration to pursue more frequent use of capital punishment.
During a firing squad procedure, the condemned person is typically restrained in a chair with a hood placed over their head. A clinician trained in anatomy identifies the location of the detainee's heart beneath the chest wall and marks that spot. Anywhere from three to five marksmen take up positions inside an enclosure, aiming at the target through a narrow firing slot. Under certain procedures, the weapon assigned to one member of the execution team is loaded with blank cartridges through a randomised selection process. Rounds are released by all participants simultaneously, and the cause of death in most cases is either a wound to the heart or significant blood loss.
A message of support for the Pentagon's announcement appeared on social media under Laura Loomer's name shortly after the statement was released. Carl Higbie, who built a public profile through both Navy SEAL service and television work, put forward his name as a willing participant in the execution. A post in support of the matter came from Katie Pavlich, a host at NewsNation. Online posts pushed for the execution to be aired in a public forum.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, in a statement following the news, used the single word "justice" to characterise the outcome.
A separate execution-related incident unfolded in Tennessee around the same time. Two doses of pentobarbital were administered to Christa Pike — who holds a 1995 murder conviction for killing a fellow student — during an execution attempt that proceeded despite medical guidance to the contrary, after which she was taken to a hospital. As of Sunday, Pike's lawyer disclosed that she was being kept on ventilator support and that her medical condition had not yet stabilised.
