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Trump Approves Firing Squad Execution for 2009 Fort Hood Shooter

Posted By Common Defense On In National Security, News | No Comments

The Army will execute former Army psychiatrist Nidal Hasan by firing squad after President Trump approved the punishment for the man convicted in the 2009 Fort Hood mass shooting. The War Department announced the decision Monday night, setting in motion a rare military execution.

Hasan killed 13 people before he was stopped at the Texas base. The dead included 12 soldiers and one civilian, while nearly three dozen other people were wounded in the attack.

The former Army major had served as an Army psychiatrist. In 2009, he entered a medical facility at Fort Hood, shouted the Arabic words for “God is great,” and opened fire before he was shot and arrested.

Hasan was convicted of carrying out the mass shooting and received a death sentence in 2013. He has remained imprisoned at the U.S. Disciplinary Barracks in Fort Leavenworth, Kansas.

Under policy established by the Uniform Code of Military Justice, military executions require approval from the president. Trump’s approval allows the Army to proceed with Hasan’s firing squad execution.

According to Parnell, the Secretary of the Army will “set the time and place for the execution.” That position is currently vacant following the resignation of Dan Driscoll in September.

Adam Telle is serving as acting secretary. The source did not provide a date for Hasan’s execution or identify the location selected for the firing squad.

Hasan is one of four former soldiers currently held on military death row. All four are imprisoned at the U.S. Disciplinary Barracks at Fort Leavenworth.

Trump issued an executive order in January 2025 to restore the death penalty. Army officials confirmed in June that they planned to carry out executions of military prisoners on death row if the president approved them.

Trump Approves Firing Squad Execution for 2009 Fort Hood Shooter
Image Credit: Bell County Sheriff’s Office
Nidal Hasan, a former Army psychiatrist, carried out a mass shooting at Fort Hood in 2009

The Army’s plan is called Operation Resolute Justice. It calls for death row prisoners to be transported from Fort Leavenworth to the Federal Correctional Institution at Terre Haute, Indiana.

Under the plan, the prisoners would be killed after arriving at the Indiana facility. It was not immediately clear whether Hasan’s execution would take place at Terre Haute or at another location chosen by Army officials.

If the execution proceeds as planned, Hasan will become the first soldier executed by the state in more than 60 years. He would also become the first soldier killed by firing squad in 81 years.

The last soldier executed by the state was Pvt. John Bennett. Bennett was hanged in 1961 after being convicted of the rape and attempted murder of a child.

The previous military firing squad execution involved Pvt. Eddie Slovik in 1945. Slovik was convicted at court martial for desertion during World War II and became the only service member killed for desertion during the war.

Hasan’s planned execution therefore carries two distinctions within the military justice system. It would end a period of more than six decades without a state execution of a soldier and more than eight decades without a military firing squad execution.

The Army has not announced when the acting or future Secretary of the Army will establish the time and place. For now, Hasan remains at Fort Leavenworth while the service prepares to carry out the punishment approved by Trump.