FORT CAVAZOS, United States – The U.S. Army has scheduled former Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan to be executed by firing squad on Dec. 3 at the Texas post formerly known as Fort Hood.
Acting Army Secretary Adam Telle set the execution date after President Donald Trump approved the death sentence and authorized the firing-squad method.
The scheduled execution would be the first U.S. military execution in more than 60 years.
Army sets December execution date
Telle’s order sets the execution for Dec. 3, 2026, at the Army installation in Texas where Hasan carried out the 2009 shooting.
The Army has not executed a service member since Pvt. John A. Bennett was hanged at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, in April 1961. The last U.S. military execution by firing squad was Pvt. Eddie Slovik’s execution in 1945.
The rare method makes Hasan’s case an unusual moment in the history of U.S. military capital punishment.
Hasan was sentenced to death in 2013
Hasan was an Army psychiatrist when he opened fire at a Soldier Readiness Processing Center at Fort Hood on Nov. 5, 2009.
Thirteen people were killed and 32 others were wounded.
A general court-martial convicted Hasan in 2013 of 13 counts of premeditated murder and 32 counts of attempted premeditated murder. The military court sentenced him to death.
The death sentence automatically triggered appellate review within the military justice system. Hasan’s case subsequently reached the federal courts, including the U.S. Supreme Court.
Execution remains a scheduled event
The Dec. 3 date does not mean the execution is certain to occur on that day.
Capital cases can remain subject to court proceedings and requests for stays. An Army legal review published earlier this year noted that military death sentences can proceed through post-trial review and habeas litigation even after presidential action.
Any successful legal challenge could therefore delay the execution.
For JournosNews, the distinction is important: Hasan has been sentenced to death and is scheduled for execution, but the execution itself has not occurred.
A rare return to military execution
The U.S. military has carried out very few executions in modern history.
Bennett’s 1961 execution was the last carried out by the military. Slovik’s 1945 execution remains the most recent U.S. military execution by firing squad.
If Hasan’s execution proceeds as scheduled, it would therefore mark the first military execution in more than six decades and the first U.S. military firing-squad execution in more than 80 years.
The case also highlights the distinct procedures governing capital punishment under the military justice system, which differs from state and federal civilian death-penalty cases.
The next step is legal review
Hasan remains in military custody while the case moves toward the scheduled execution date.
The Army’s announcement establishes the date and method, but further legal proceedings could affect the timetable.
For now, Dec. 3 is the Army’s scheduled date for the execution of the former major whose 2009 attack became one of the deadliest incidents in the history of a U.S. military installation.
Reporting Credit: U.S. Army; U.S. Department of Defense; U.S. Army court-martial records; U.S. Army Court of Criminal Appeals; U.S. Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces; U.S. Supreme Court; U.S. federal court records.
