Hegseth Says the Country Will Be Allowed to Watch Hasan Die at Fort Hood

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Thursday that the American public will be able to watch the execution of Nidal Hasan, the former Army major and psychiatrist who murdered 13 people at Fort Hood, Texas, in 2009. Hasan is scheduled to be put to death by firing squad on December 3 at 1 p.m. Central Time — the same hour of the day he opened fire.

Hegseth made the remarks in an interview with Real America's Voice, and a social media account tied to the Pentagon circulated a clip of the exchange. A Defense Department official went further than the secretary did, telling Stars and Stripes that the execution "will be livestreamed" and that "details will follow."

Stars and Stripes has reported that the execution would be the first U.S. military execution in 65 years and the first Army firing-squad execution since World War II. Coverage of the announcement has also described it as the first public execution carried out anywhere in the United States in roughly nine decades, though that characterization is not tied to a named source in the reporting reviewed here. The Pentagon has not yet explained how the viewing will work.

What Hegseth Actually Said

According to Stars and Stripes, which reported the interview from Austin, Hegseth said: "We'll make sure that people are able to watch it — that it's public — because people need to understand that there are serious consequences for these types of things." Breitbart, which also covered the interview, rendered the same remark in slightly different wording and punctuation. The underlying point is identical, but the exact phrasing differs between the two accounts, and the clip itself is the only way to settle it.

Worth noting: Hegseth said "public." He did not say "livestream." The livestream claim comes from a single unnamed Defense Department official speaking to Stars and Stripes. No platform, no access rules, no word on whether in-person spectators beyond the official witness list will be permitted. All of that is still unspecified.

There is also a title discrepancy worth flagging for readers who notice such things. Breitbart refers to Hegseth as "Secretary of War," the Trump administration's preferred rebranding of the office. Stars and Stripes, a Defense Department-funded paper, still calls him Defense Secretary.

How the Date Got Set

The sequence moved fast. Pentagon chief spokesman Sean Parnell announced Monday, October 5, that President Donald Trump had approved execution by firing squad on Hegseth's recommendation. The Associated Press reported the presidential approval as well, according to Breitbart. "Judgement day for Hasan has finally come," Parnell said in that statement.

The following day, acting Secretary of the Army Adam Telle issued the memo setting the date, time and place: December 3, 1 p.m., Fort Hood. Whether Telle's memo itself addresses public viewing is unverified — the document has not been made public, and neither outlet quoted language from it on that question.

The Crime the Country Remembers

On November 5, 2009, Hasan walked into the Soldier Readiness Processing Center at Fort Hood with a semiautomatic handgun and began shooting. Thirteen people died: 12 active-duty soldiers and one retired soldier working there as a civilian. More than 30 others were wounded. Witnesses said Hasan shouted "Allahu akbar" — Arabic for "God is great" — as he fired.

A military jury convicted him and sentenced him to death in 2013. He has sat on military death row ever since. Stars and Stripes reports that Hasan is now 56 and paralyzed from the waist down; that detail appears in the Stripes account alone among the reporting reviewed here, which does not describe how he was injured.

Thirteen years separate the sentence from the scheduled date. Neither outlet reviewed here carried reaction from the families of those killed, and none has been obtained for this report.

What Happens Next

The mechanics remain unannounced: who witnesses, how the viewing is carried, and what Army regulations governing execution witnesses require. Whether Hasan's lawyers will file further federal appeals seeking to challenge or delay the December 3 date is unresolved. Until the Pentagon releases those details, the firm facts are the date, the place, the method and the secretary's word that the country will be allowed to watch.