President Donald Trump has ordered an Army firing squad to execute former US Army Major Nidal Hasan, who killed 13 people at Fort Hood, Texas, in 2009. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth recommended the order, which Trump approved, placing the military execution process under presidential authority. The Secretary of the Army will set the time and place, Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell said on X.
The State’s Execution Order
A military jury sentenced Hasan to death in August 2013 after finding him guilty of 45 counts of premeditated murder and attempted premeditated murder. Under the Uniform Code of Military Justice, a death sentence imposed by court-martial cannot be carried out “until approved by the president.” Trump’s order supplies that approval, while the Army retains authority to determine when and where the execution takes place.
Hasan opened fire with a laser-sighted handgun inside a medical facility at the sprawling central Texas military base. The attack killed 12 unarmed active-duty soldiers and a retired serviceman, and wounded 32 others, Parnell said. Police shot Hasan during his arrest, leaving him partially paralyzed and confined to a wheelchair. He was scheduled to deploy to Afghanistan weeks after the shooting.
Hasan later described the attack as retaliation for U.S. wars in the Muslim world. Parnell said Hasan shouted “Allahu Akbar” — “God is greatest” in Arabic — during the shooting. “Judgment day for Hasan has finally come,” Parnell said.
Execution Methods and Their Limits
The Trump administration recently added firing squad, electrocution and gas asphyxiation to the permitted methods for the gravest federal crimes. The options expanded partly because obtaining lethal-injection drugs has become increasingly difficult, and because lethal injections have at times proved challenging to use.
Last week, Tennessee prison personnel tried to administer a lethal injection to Christa Pike, but the attempt went awry. Pike, a death-row inmate, remained alive but unconscious and was hospitalized on life support. Tennessee had planned to execute a woman for the first time in more than 200 years.
Pike’s lawyers urged the Tennessee Department of Correction to consider an alternative method, such as hanging or firing squad, citing concerns about establishing a sound intravenous line. The case documents practical problems surrounding lethal injection, which the administration cited as part of its decision to widen the available methods. It doesn't change the military process governing Hasan’s sentence.
Rare Military Executions
Military executions are rare. Hasan could become the first U.S. military execution since 1961, according to Death Penalty Action. The Death Penalty Information Center says officials carried out that execution by hanging. The center reported that the apparent last known U.S. military firing-squad execution took place “by musketry” in November 1945.
At least five states have firing squads on the books, according to the center. South Carolina carried out the first firing-squad execution in the United States in 15 years in 2025. Death Penalty Action, which opposes capital punishment, said in a statement responding to Trump’s decision: “There is nothing Donald Trump loves more than the power to kill.”