Hegseth Says Public Will Be Able to See Fort Hood Shooter’s Execution

Secretary of War Pete Hegseth has said members of the general public will be able to see the firing-squad execution of Nidal Hasan, who was convicted on multiple counts of murder and attempted murder for the 2009 mass shooting at Fort Hood, Texas.

“He’s going to get a firing squad of soldiers, as it should be, and 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 said in an interview with Real America’s Voice host Jack Posobiec on Oct. 8.

Hasan was born in the United States and held the rank of major in the U.S. Army on the date of the Fort Hood shooting on Nov. 5, 2009.

Those killed in the 2009 shooting were 12 U.S. soldiers, a civilian physician, and an unborn child. Thirty-two others sustained wounds during the attack.

Following a 2013 military court-martial proceeding, a military jury convicted Hasan on all 13 counts of premeditated murder and 32 counts of attempted premeditated murder, and recommended he be sentenced to death. He has remained on the military’s death row at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, ever since.

Hasan, who is of Muslim faith, represented himself in the 2013 proceedings, during which he identified himself as the shooter, described himself as a jihadist, and indicated he regretted his service in the U.S. military and had changed his allegiance.

A 2011 report by the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee concluded there were signs of Hasan’s growing radicalization in the lead-up to the shooting. The report indicated Hasan had at times described U.S. military operations at the time as a war on Islam and said having Muslims in the military could increase the risk of fratricide within the ranks.

“It was a radical Islamist terror attack,” Hegseth said of the 2009 shooting.

This week, the Pentagon announced President Donald Trump had decided on the use of a firing squad.

The Pentagon has since announced Hasan is scheduled to be executed on Dec. 3, at 1 p.m. at Fort Hood.

“We’re going to do it at Fort Hood,” Hegseth told Posobiec. “We’re going to do it on a Thursday, we’re going to do it at 1 o’clock, which is when he did it.”

Earlier this year, the U.S. Department of Justice approved firing squads, electrocution, and gassing as means of execution in federal cases.

Hasan would be the first U.S. military execution by firing squad since 1961.

Asked whether he was aware if Hasan had lodged any requests or appeals since learning of his execution details, Hegseth said, “Don’t care, we’ll see him on December 3rd.”

While Hasan’s military execution date is set for Dec. 3, he may be able to put off his death by firing squad through a habeas corpus appeal to the civilian federal court system and a request for a stay of execution.

In 2008, President George W. Bush approved execution by lethal injection for Army Pvt. Ronald Gray, who was convicted in a court-martial for multiple counts, including two murders, an attempted murder, and three rapes. A civilian federal court subsequently granted Gray a stay of execution, and he has remained on death row since.

Hasan is one of four men on the military’s death row.

Kimberly Hayek contributed to this report.