Pentagon to Livestream Fort Hood Shooter’s Execution as Backlash Grows

WASHINGTON — A Republican congressman who backs the death sentence for Nidal Hasan says the Pentagon’s plan to broadcast his killing is the kind of thing jihadists do, and the vice president says he will not watch if it happens. Both reactions show how a plan meant to project resolve has divided the president’s own side.

The Pentagon confirmed that Hasan’s firing squad execution, set for Dec. 3 at Fort Hood, will be livestreamed, NPR reported. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told Real America’s Voice, “We’ll make sure that people are able to watch it, that it’s public.” Officials told the Associated Press that more details would follow.

Hasan, an Army psychiatrist, killed 13 people and wounded 32 at Fort Hood on Nov. 5, 2009. The Army said its acting secretary, Adam Telle, directed the execution by firing squad on Oct. 6. Hegseth had recommended the method, and President Donald Trump approved it, according to a post by Hegseth on X.

The case is unusual before the broadcast even enters the picture. The Associated Press reported that it would be the first military execution since April 13, 1961, when Army Pvt. John Bennett was hanged, and the first by firing squad since World War II. A 2023 update to the Army’s execution regulation gave the secretary discretion over the method, Yale Law School lecturer Eugene Fidell told the AP, in part to ease the way for executions at Guantanamo Bay. Those rules say nothing about broadcasting an execution.

Reaction came fast and crossed party lines. “I absolutely support the sentence of death, but live-streaming executions is what jihadists do,” Rep. Austin Scott, a Georgia Republican, said on X. Sen. Chris Murphy, a Connecticut Democrat, asked on CNN, “What is he, mimicking ISIS executions?” The AP reported that clergy, including US Catholic bishops, also criticized the plan. Al Jazeera reported that rights groups and legal experts warn the broadcast could endanger minors, who are usually barred from witnessing executions.

Vice President JD Vance, speaking to reporters in Lima, Ohio, hedged on whether the Pentagon would follow through. “I’ve seen those announcements. I don’t know if that’s actually going to happen,” he said, according to The Hill. He called Hasan responsible for “the worst terrorist attack on American soil outside of 9/11” and added, “If it’s ultimately livestreamed, I’m not going to be watching it.” A vice president publicly doubting a Pentagon announcement is unusual.

The legal route to stopping the broadcast looks narrow. Brenner Fissell, a Villanova law professor who studies military justice, told the AP that apart from Hasan, “I’m not sure anyone could” have standing to challenge a livestream. Army regulations say, “No person under the age of 18 shall witness” a military execution. Fissell said it is an open question whether a livestream counts as presence, and he thinks it “violates the spirit of the regulation.” Fidell called a lawsuit by parents “very unlikely.” Hasan has not said whether he will challenge anything.

The date itself may not hold. Robert Dunham of the Death Penalty Policy Project told the AP that if Hasan challenges his sentence in federal court, the execution would likely be put on hold for years. “The decision on the execution method will depend upon who is Secretary of Defense when the case becomes final and whether there is still a death penalty when that happens,” Dunham said. In other words, a plan announced as a show of certainty rests on a calendar that no one in the Pentagon controls.

The announcement arrives in a year when executions have been in public view for the wrong reasons. The Eastern Herald reported that Christa Pike survived two doses of pentobarbital in Tennessee on Sept. 30. In August, Tennessee, Alabama and Oklahoma carried out the first same-day triple execution since 2010, while Florida held a double execution in July. Public support for capital punishment stood at 52 percent, the lowest level since the 1970s, according to the Eastern Herald’s earlier reporting.

Much remains undecided: which platform would carry the stream, who could watch in person, and whether the Pentagon can reconcile the broadcast with its own rule on minors. The Eastern Herald will update this report as officials release details.