The United States military hasn't executed a prisoner since 1961. That quiet streak is about to shatter. President Donald Trump has officially approved a firing-squad execution for Army Major Nidal Malik Hasan, the man behind the devastating 2009 mass shooting at Fort Hood, Texas.
When War Secretary Pete Hegseth announced the authorization on X, it wasn't just a routine bureaucratic update. It marked a sharp pivot in federal and military capital punishment policy. For years, federal and military executions relied on lethal injection. By opting for a firing squad—a method rarely discussed outside of historical footnotes or remote state penitentiaries—the administration is thrusting capital punishment mechanics back into public view. If you liked this post, you might want to read: this related article.
Hasan’s name has sat in the grim annals of military history for over a decade. On November 5, 2009, he walked into a soldier readiness processing building at Fort Hood armed with a laser-sighted semiautomatic pistol. He opened fire while shouting religious phrases, killing twelve soldiers and one civilian. More than thirty others suffered bullet wounds before civilian police officer Kimberly Munley shot and partially paralyzed him.
A military jury sentenced him to death in 2013. Yet, the legal machinery crawled at a glacial pace. Military death sentences require layers of appellate review, presidential sign-offs, and stringent constitutional checks. Hasan's case sat trapped in that appellate purgatory for over thirteen years. For another look on this development, refer to the recent update from USA.gov.
During his 2013 court-martial, Hasan didn't mount a defense. He acted as his own attorney, refused to call witnesses, and offered no testimony. Defense attorneys assigned to assist him quietly noted at the time that Hasan seemed eager to invite a death sentence, viewing himself through a distorted lens of martyrdom. Prosecutors presented clear evidence that Hasan had exchanged communications with Anwar al-Awlaki, the American-born Al-Qaeda cleric who was later killed in a 2011 US drone strike in Yemen.
Choosing a firing squad over lethal injection isn't a random administrative whim. Lethal injection protocols have faced intense legal scrutiny, pharmaceutical boycotts, and supply chain blockades for years. Drug manufacturers frequently refuse to sell barbiturates to correctional agencies. This has left federal and state executioners scrambling for alternatives. Utah remains one of the few states that still permits firing squads as a backup method, and the federal government is now signaling a willingness to embrace kinetic, legacy methods when chemical supplies stall or legal challenges mount.
Military executions are governed by the Uniform Code of Military Justice. While civilian federal executions take place under civil jurisdiction, military courts operate under distinct rules designed to maintain good order and discipline within the armed forces. Capital offenses tried by court-martial require unanimous verdicts from a panel of military members, followed by exhaustive reviews that travel all the way up to the Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces and, ultimately, the commander-in-chief.
Critics of the firing squad call it archaic and brutal. Supporters argue it provides a definitive, mechanically reliable form of capital punishment that avoids the botched vein punctures and drug cocktail failures plaguing lethal injections. Either way, the Secretary of the Army now holds the responsibility of setting the exact time and place for the execution.
The logistics will require meticulous planning. A military firing squad typically consists of multiple shooters firing simultaneously, with one weapon loaded with a blank round so that no single service member carries the psychological burden of knowing they fired the fatal shot.
Hasan’s execution will test the legal boundaries of modern military justice. It cuts through a sixty-year precedent of inactivity in the military death chamber. The legal challenges from defense teams will likely fly fast and furious before any bullets are ever loaded.
The machinery has started moving. Judgement day is no longer a theoretical talking point on cable news. It is an active order awaiting a calendar date.
