More than sixteen years after Nidal Malik Hasan opened fire on unarmed soldiers at Fort Hood — killing thirteen and wounding thirty-two in the deadliest non-combat attack ever carried out on an American military base — the machinery of military justice has finally turned. With President Trump's approval of Secretary Hegseth's recommendation, Hasan is now set to face execution by firing squad, a method the US military has not employed since the final days of World War Two. The decision reflects not only the weight of a singular act of violence, but a broader reckoning with how a nation chooses
Fort Hood shooter Nidal Malik Hasan approved for military execution by firing squad
Nidal Malik Hasan killed 13 unarmed US soldiers and injured 32 others in the 2009 Fort Hood shooting attack.
The deadliest non-combat attack on an American military base.
Mark
Why did it take so long? Hasan was convicted in 2013. We're now in 2026.
Mimi
Military executions require presidential approval and appellate review. The legal status was also uncertain—the military death penalty had been ruled unconstitutional in 1983, then reinstated, but no one had actually carried one out in decades. The machinery was dormant.
Luke
Right, and we should be clear: the source doesn't explain what those appellate reviews found or when they concluded. We know Trump approved it, but we don't know the full legal path that got us here.
Mark
What was Hasan's motive? Was this terrorism?
Mimi
During his trial, Hasan said he believed he was protecting Muslims and the Taliban in Afghanistan. He admitted to being the gunman and apologized for "any mistakes"—though the source doesn't elaborate on what he meant by that.
Luke
That's a thin characterization of his stated reasoning. The source gives us his words but not much context around them. We know what he said in court, but not much about his background or how authorities classified the attack.
Mark
Is this a sign of what's coming under Trump?
Mimi
Trump reinstated federal capital punishment on his first day in office after Biden had paused it. His order frames it as essential for deterring serious crimes. This execution is the first military one in over 80 years, so it's significant symbolically.
Luke
But we don't know if there are other military death row inmates who might be next, or what the timeline looks like. The source says Hasan is one of four on military death row, but doesn't tell us about the others or their cases.
Mark
How unusual is execution by firing squad?
Mimi
Very. Only five states allow it. South Carolina did one last year—the first in the country in 15 years. It's not a common method anymore.
Luke
The source is clear on that. But it doesn't explain why the military chose firing squad for Hasan specifically, or whether that was his choice or the government's decision.
El Pulso
- Thirteen soldiers were killed and thirty-two wounded in a 2009 attack that shattered the assumption of safety within America's own military walls.
- For over a decade, Hasan sat on death row while legal ambiguity, shifting administrations, and a Biden-era moratorium on federal executions kept the sentence suspended in limbo.
- President Trump, who reinstated federal capital punishment on his first day back in office, approved the execution recommendation from Secretary of War Pete Hegseth — announced not in a formal press briefing, but via social media.
- The execution will be carried out by firing squad, a method unused by the US military since 1945, with the Secretary of the Army still to determine the time and place.
- The case now enters its final legal corridor — appellate review and a formal judgment on legality — before what would become a stark and historic moment in American military justice.
More than sixteen years after Nidal Malik Hasan opened fire on unarmed soldiers at Fort Hood — killing thirteen and wounding thirty-two in the deadliest non-combat attack ever carried out on an American military base — the machinery of military justice has finally turned. With President Trump's approval of Secretary Hegseth's recommendation, Hasan is now set to face execution by firing squad, a method the US military has not employed since the final days of World War Two. The decision reflects not only the weight of a singular act of violence, but a broader reckoning with how a nation chooses to answer its gravest wounds.
On November 5, 2009, Nidal Malik Hasan — a US Army psychiatrist and major — walked into a medical building at Fort Hood, Texas, where soldiers were lined up for routine pre-deployment check-ups. He opened fire on unarmed servicemembers, killing thirteen and wounding thirty-two. It remains the deadliest non-combat attack ever carried out on an American military base.
At his 2013 court-martial, Hasan admitted he was the gunman, telling the jury he believed he was defending Muslims and the Taliban in Afghanistan. A panel of thirteen officers convicted him on all counts of premeditated murder and attempted murder, unanimously recommending death. He has sat on military death row ever since — one of four inmates awaiting execution under military law.
But the sentence remained unexecuted. The US military had not carried out a firing squad execution since 1945. A 1983 appellate ruling had briefly struck down the military death penalty as unconstitutional before Ronald Reagan reinstated it by executive order — yet the question of whether to actually use it went unanswered for decades.
That changed this week. Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell announced via social media that Secretary of War Pete Hegseth had recommended Hasan's execution and that President Trump had approved it. The announcement carried a blunt finality: "Judgement day for Hasan has finally come." The Secretary of the Army will determine when and where the sentence is carried out.
The decision fits within Trump's broader posture on capital punishment. On his first day back in office in January 2025, he signed an executive order reinstating federal capital punishment — halted under Biden — describing it as "an essential tool for deterring and punishing those who would commit the most heinous crimes." Military executions require both presidential approval and appellate review before they can proceed.
When it occurs, Hasan's execution will be the first military firing squad execution in more than eighty years — a moment that closes a long and painful chapter, and signals how the current administration intends to wield the capital powers it has reclaimed.
On November 5, 2009, Nidal Malik Hasan walked into a crowded medical building at Fort Hood, Texas, where deploying soldiers were lined up for routine check-ups and vaccinations. He opened fire on unarmed servicemembers. When it ended, 13 soldiers were dead and 32 more were wounded. It was the deadliest non-combat attack ever carried out on an American military base.
Hasan was a psychiatrist and major in the US Army, stationed in Virginia. During his court-martial in 2013, he admitted he was the gunman. He told the jury panel of 13 officers that he believed he was protecting Muslims and the Taliban in Afghanistan. The officers convicted him on 13 counts of premeditated murder and 32 counts of attempted murder. They unanimously recommended he be executed.
For more than a decade, Hasan sat on the military's death row—one of four inmates awaiting capital punishment under military law. But the machinery of execution had stalled. The last time the US military carried out a firing squad execution was in 1945, at the end of World War Two. The legal landscape had shifted. In 1983, the US Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces ruled the military death penalty unconstitutional. Ronald Reagan reinstated it by executive order the following year, but the question of whether to actually use it remained unresolved.
That changed this week. On Monday, Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell announced that Secretary of War Pete Hegseth had recommended Hasan's execution and President Donald Trump had approved it. The announcement came via social media, where Parnell wrote: "Judgement day for Hasan has finally come." The Secretary of the Army will determine when and where the execution takes place.
Military executions operate under different rules than state-level capital punishment. Presidential approval is required by law. So is appellate review and a final judgment on the execution's legality. The approval reflects Trump's broader stance on capital punishment. On his first day back in office in January 2025, Trump signed an executive order reinstating federal capital punishment, which had been halted under his predecessor, Joe Biden. Trump's order describes capital punishment as "an essential tool for deterring and punishing those who would commit the most heinous crimes and acts of lethal violence against American citizens."
Firing squad executions remain rare in the United States. Most capital punishment happens at the state level—27 states, along with the military and federal government, still retain it as a legal option. Only five states allow execution by firing squad: Idaho, Mississippi, Oklahoma, Utah, and South Carolina, which carried out its first firing squad execution last year, the first time the method was used anywhere in the country in 15 years.
Hasan's execution, when it occurs, will mark a stark historical moment: the first military firing squad execution in more than 80 years, and a test of how the Trump administration intends to use the capital punishment powers it has reclaimed.
Citas Notables
Hasan said during his court-martial that he believed he was protecting Muslims and the Taliban in Afghanistan— Nidal Malik Hasan, during his 2013 trial
Trump's executive order describes capital punishment as an essential tool for deterring and punishing those who would commit the most heinous crimes and acts of lethal violence against American citizens— Trump administration executive order, January 2025
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Crime & Justice