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Nidal Hasan - Fort Hood Massacre and Proposed Televised Execution

Overview

A factual record of the 2009 Fort Hood shooting, the conviction of Nidal Hasan, and the October 2026 proposal to livestream his execution, which was withdrawn after public opposition. My own view on broadcasting executions is in Televised Execution; this note holds the facts that prompted it.

Background

On 5 November 2009, Nidal Malik Hasan, a US Army major and psychiatrist, opened fire at the Soldier Readiness Processing Center at Fort Hood, Texas. Thirteen people were killed, twelve of them soldiers and one a civilian, and more than thirty were wounded. Reported figures for the wounded vary between sources; 32 is the number most often cited.

Hasan had been due to deploy to Afghanistan. Between December 2008 and June 2009 he sent nearly twenty emails to Anwar al-Awlaki, the American-born cleric then associated with al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula. The FBI was aware of the correspondence before the attack and had judged him not to be involved in terrorist planning.

Motive, as stated at trial

  • In June 2013, seeking to argue "defence of others", Hasan told the court he had acted to protect the leadership of the Taliban from soldiers about to deploy to Afghanistan. The judge ruled the defence out.
  • On 6 August 2013, the first day of his court martial, acting as his own counsel, he admitted he was the shooter, said that during the war he had found himself "on the wrong side" and had switched sides, and identified himself as a mujahideen.
  • Documents released to Fox News in August 2013 reportedly set out his view that the United States was at war with Islam; his business cards carried the initials "SoA", taken to mean Soldier of Allah. I have not seen the primary documents.

He was found guilty on all counts on 23 August 2013 and sentenced to death five days later. The Supreme Court declined to review his conviction on 31 March 2025.

The proposed livestream

  • On 2 October 2026 President Donald Trump approved the death sentence. On 6 October the Acting Secretary of the Army directed that Hasan be executed by firing squad at Fort Hood, and the Army announced the date the next day: 3 December 2026.
  • In the following days Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth announced that the execution would be livestreamed.
  • The proposal drew opposition across party lines and institutions, including Senator Thom Tillis, a Republican ("Public executions are what oppressive dictatorships like Iran and Afghanistan do"), Archbishop Timothy Broglio of the Catholic archdiocese for the US military, and survivors of the shooting. An ABC News, Washington Post and Ipsos poll found about eight in ten Americans opposed to a livestream.
  • On 15 October 2026 Trump cancelled the broadcast on Truth Social, writing that streaming "might have been a strong deterrent" but that "many very good and well meaning people would rather not watch him die". The execution itself remains scheduled, subject to any further legal proceedings.

If it goes ahead it will be the first US military execution since Private John Bennett was hanged at Fort Leavenworth on 13 April 1961, and the first by firing squad since Private Eddie Slovik was shot in France on 31 January 1945.

Sources

Also see