Pentagon plans public livestream of its first firing squad execution in decades

The Pentagon said Thursday it will livestream the military’s first firing squad execution in decades, allowing the public to watch as the man who killed 13 people in a 2009 mass shooting at Fort Hood is put to death.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth vowed in an interview this week to let the public watch a firing squad execute Nidal Hasan at the same base in Texas where he carried out the massacre.

“We’ll make sure that people are able to watch it, that it’s public, because people need to understand that there’s serious consequences for these types of things,” Hegseth told far-right podcaster Jack Posobiec in an interview aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln on Wednesday.

A Pentagon official said Thursday that the execution — which Hegseth recommended and President Donald Trump approved — “will be livestreamed” and Hegseth confirmed it in a post on X.

Acting Secretary of the Army Adam Telle set the date for Hasan’s execution for December 3 at 1 p.m. local time.

Hegseth said, “We’re going to do it at one o’clock, which is when he did it, and it’s going to be soldiers with rifles executing the firing squad.”

Earlier on Thursday, the Pentagon had referred questions about how the execution would be publicized to the Army, who did not respond to CNN.