More than eighty years after the last such act, the American military has been authorized to execute Nidal Malik Hasan — the Army officer who killed thirteen of his fellow soldiers at Fort Hood in 2009 — by firing squad, a method long consigned to the history of wartime justice. The Trump administration's approval represents not merely a legal proceeding but a deliberate resurrection of martial tradition, reviving a form of capital punishment that most living Americans have never witnessed their armed forces employ. In doing so, it places the weight of seventeen years of grief, appellate delay
Trump Approves First U.S. Military Firing Squad Execution Since 1945
Nidal Malik Hasan killed 13 people in the 2009 Fort Hood shooting; he is now scheduled for execution.
The military had not executed anyone in eighty-one years
Mark
So the military has its own death penalty system entirely separate from what states do?
Mimi
Yes. The Uniform Code of Military Justice operates independently. Military courts, military appeals, military execution methods. It's a parallel system.
Luke
But we should note—the source material doesn't actually detail what those procedures are or how they differ from civilian capital punishment. We know firing squad is being used, but the specifics of how the military conducts it aren't spelled out.
Mark
Why did it take so long? Hasan was convicted in 2013. That's thirteen years ago.
Mimi
Military appeals take time, like civilian appeals. But also, the military hadn't executed anyone since 1945. There's no recent institutional practice to fall back on. That's part of why there are procedural questions now.
Luke
Right—and the source doesn't actually tell us whether those questions have been answered or are still pending. We know they exist; we don't know their status.
Mark
What's the significance of Trump approving this specifically?
Mimi
It's a policy choice. The administration is signaling a harder stance on capital punishment, and the military is following suit by reviving a method that had been dormant for over eighty years.
Luke
Though we should be careful: the source doesn't explain Trump's reasoning or quote him directly on why this approval happened now. We know it happened; the "why" is inference.
Mark
And Hasan himself—what's his position?
Mimi
He's been largely silent. He's paralyzed from the waist down from the shooting response. His legal team has pursued appeals, but they haven't succeeded.
Luke
The source doesn't detail what those appeals argued or whether there are any remaining legal challenges. We know appeals happened; we don't know their substance.
The Pulse
- A man who killed thirteen soldiers in minutes has spent over a decade in a wheelchair awaiting a death sentence that the system seemed in no hurry to carry out — until now.
- The Trump administration's approval of a firing squad execution breaks an eighty-one-year silence in American military justice, signaling a deliberate hardening of policy rather than a routine legal step.
- Procedural uncertainty looms large: the Army has not conducted such an execution since the Truman era, and the modern protocols — who participates, what safeguards apply — remain publicly unresolved.
- Victims' families, some of whom have waited seventeen years for finality, are divided in their public responses, a reminder that closure is rarely as clean as a scheduled date.
- The execution, set for December 3, 2026, is landing as both a legal endpoint and a policy statement — one that could reshape how the military approaches capital punishment for years to come.
More than eighty years after the last such act, the American military has been authorized to execute Nidal Malik Hasan — the Army officer who killed thirteen of his fellow soldiers at Fort Hood in 2009 — by firing squad, a method long consigned to the history of wartime justice. The Trump administration's approval represents not merely a legal proceeding but a deliberate resurrection of martial tradition, reviving a form of capital punishment that most living Americans have never witnessed their armed forces employ. In doing so, it places the weight of seventeen years of grief, appellate delay, and policy evolution onto a single scheduled moment in December 2026, and opens anew the country's unresolved conversation about how — and whether — the state should take a life.
In November 2026, the Trump administration authorized an execution the American military had not carried out in over eight decades. Nidal Malik Hasan — the Army psychiatrist who opened fire at Fort Hood, Texas, in November 2009, killing thirteen people and wounding more than thirty — would be put to death by firing squad. The last time the U.S. military executed someone by that method was 1945, when World War II was not yet over.
Hasan was an officer in the Army Medical Corps when he carried out the attack. He survived, was arrested, and in 2013 was convicted and sentenced to death. Paralyzed from the waist down after being shot by military police during the response to his rampage, he has spent the years since in a wheelchair, his appeals working through the system while the families of his victims waited.
The choice of firing squad over lethal injection — the dominant method in civilian executions — is not incidental. It reflects a return to the oldest traditions of military justice, a system that has always operated under its own codes, separate from civilian courts. The Trump administration has taken a harder line on capital punishment broadly, and this decision extends that posture into the armed forces with unusual historical force.
What remains unresolved is the how. Military firing squad protocols have not been tested in modern times, and the Army has offered little public clarity on the procedures it intends to follow. The execution is scheduled for December 3, 2026 — weeks away at the time of approval, and a date with no living precedent in American military practice.
For the victims' families, the moment carries seventeen years of weight. Some have expressed support; others have stayed silent. Whether this case marks a lasting shift in how the military conducts capital punishment, or stands as an exception shaped by the particular brutality of Hasan's crime and the particular politics of this administration, remains an open question — one the country will begin answering the moment the order is carried out.
In November 2026, the Trump administration signed off on an execution that had not occurred in the American military for more than eight decades. Nidal Malik Hasan, the Army psychiatrist convicted of opening fire at Fort Hood in Texas in 2009, would be put to death by firing squad—a method the military had abandoned since the final days of World War II.
Hasan's attack on that November afternoon in 2009 left thirteen people dead and more than thirty wounded. He was an officer in the Army Medical Corps, stationed at the sprawling base near Killeen. The shooting lasted minutes. The toll was immediate and permanent. Hasan survived the attack, was arrested, tried, and in 2013 was convicted and sentenced to death. For more than a decade, he had sat in military custody while his case moved through the appellate system. The approval to proceed with execution came as a policy shift under the current administration, one that revived a form of capital punishment the military had effectively retired.
The decision to use firing squad rather than lethal injection—the method employed in civilian executions across most of the country—signals a deliberate return to military tradition. The last time the U.S. military carried out an execution by firing squad was in 1945, when the war in Europe had just ended and the Pacific campaign was still underway. That was eighty-one years prior. The method itself carries weight in military history: it has been the prescribed form of execution for military crimes since the founding of the armed forces, a practice rooted in martial law and the codes of military justice that operate separately from civilian criminal procedure.
The timing of the approval raises questions about why now. The Trump administration has signaled a harder line on capital punishment generally, and the military justice system operates under its own authority, distinct from state and federal civilian courts. The decision to greenlight Hasan's execution by this particular method represents not merely a legal determination but a policy choice—one that breaks with decades of military practice and invites scrutiny of how the armed forces conduct capital punishment.
Procedural questions remain unresolved. Military firing squad executions involve protocols that have not been tested in modern times. The Army has not carried out such an execution since the Truman administration. How the procedure would unfold, who would participate, what safeguards would be in place—these details have not been fully clarified in public reporting. The execution was scheduled for December 3, 2026, giving the military weeks to prepare for an event that had no recent precedent in American military practice.
Hasan himself has remained largely silent throughout the appellate process. He was paralyzed from the waist down after being shot by military police during the initial response to his attack, and he has spent his years in confinement in a wheelchair. His legal team has pursued appeals, but the conviction has held. The victims' families have waited more than seventeen years for finality. Some have expressed support for the execution; others have declined to comment publicly.
The revival of firing squad execution in the military raises broader questions about capital punishment in America. While most states have moved away from such methods, the military operates under its own legal framework. The decision signals that the armed forces, under this administration, are willing to resurrect practices that had become historical artifacts. Whether this marks a permanent shift in military justice policy, or remains specific to this case, remains to be seen. The execution, if carried out as scheduled, would be the first military firing squad execution in the lifetime of most Americans alive today.
Notable Quotes
The military has not carried out a firing squad execution since the Truman administration— Military records
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