WASHINGTON, DC – October 6, 2026 (STL.News) President Donald Trump has approved the execution of Army Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan by a U.S. Army firing squad for the 2009 mass shooting at Fort Hood, Texas, that killed 13 people and wounded 32 others.
The decision moves one of the most consequential military death-penalty cases in modern U.S. history closer to an execution that, if ultimately carried out, would be the first by the American military since 1961.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth recommended death by U.S. Army firing squad for Hasan, and Trump approved the recommendation, according to Pentagon chief spokesman Sean Parnell.
“The Secretary of the Army will set the time and place of the execution,” Parnell said in announcing the decision.
As of Oct. 6, the Army had not publicly announced that time and place.
That distinction is important. Trump has taken the presidential action necessary to move the military death sentence toward execution and has approved the firing-squad method, but Hasan has not been given a publicly announced execution date.
The case also may not be finished in the courts. Army legal authorities have specifically noted that even after presidential approval of a military death sentence, a condemned prisoner may pursue habeas corpus proceedings in the civilian federal courts.
Hasan killed 13 people at Fort Hood
The case dates to Nov. 5, 2009, when Hasan, then an Army psychiatrist, opened fire at the Soldier Readiness Processing Center at Fort Hood.
Soldiers were going through medical and administrative processing at the facility, including personnel preparing for deployment.
Hasan opened fire with a semiautomatic handgun.
Twelve soldiers and one civilian were killed. Another 32 people were wounded.
Hasan was shot during the response and survived. He was subsequently left paralyzed from the waist down.
The shooting became one of the deadliest attacks ever carried out on a U.S. military installation.
The FBI and Army launched extensive investigations after the attack.
Hasan previously had come to the attention of an FBI-led Joint Terrorism Task Force because of communications examined as part of an unrelated investigation.
In a November 2009 statement, the FBI said investigators had reviewed certain communications involving Hasan before the shooting but concluded at the time that their content could be explained by research connected to his work as a psychiatrist at Walter Reed Army Medical Center.
A later independent review led by former FBI Director William Webster examined the FBI’s handling of counterterrorism intelligence connected to Hasan.
The Webster Commission identified shortcomings in policy guidance, technology, information-review procedures, and training, and made 18 recommendations.
The commission did not conclude that FBI personnel intentionally disregarded their duties.
Military jury sentenced Hasan to death
Hasan eventually faced a general court-martial at Fort Hood.
The proceedings were unusual in part because Hasan elected to represent himself, although standby military defense counsel remained available.
He did not meaningfully dispute that he carried out the shooting.
The court-martial panel unanimously found Hasan guilty of 13 counts of premeditated murder and 32 counts of attempted premeditated murder.
On Aug. 28, 2013, the panel sentenced him to death.
The sentence also included forfeiture of all pay and allowances and dismissal from the service.
A death sentence imposed by a military court does not, however, result in an immediate execution.
Military capital cases are subject to extensive mandatory review.
Hasan’s case consequently remained in the military appellate system for more than a decade after the attack.
Military appeals reached their end
The case eventually reached the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces, the highest appellate court in the military justice system.
In United States v. Hasan, No. 21-0193, the court considered numerous issues arising from his court-martial and capital sentence.
The court issued its final decision on March 4, 2024.
Hasan then sought review from the U.S. Supreme Court.
Supreme Court records identify the case as Nidal M. Hasan v. United States, No. 24-5225, a capital case originating from the Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces.
Hasan filed his petition for a writ of certiorari on Aug. 1, 2024.
The United States filed its opposition in February 2025, and Hasan filed a reply the following month.
On March 31, 2025, the Supreme Court denied the petition.
The denial ended Hasan’s ordinary direct appellate route to the Supreme Court but did not necessarily eliminate collateral challenges in civilian federal court.
That distinction is likely to matter more now that presidential approval has been obtained.
Trump action follows Hegseth request
The move toward presidential action did not begin this week.
An Army Lawyer review published in May 2026 reported that Hegseth had asked Trump in September 2025 to sign the death warrant approving and ordering Hasan’s execution.
Military law gives the president a distinctive role in capital punishment.
Under the Uniform Code of Military Justice, a military death sentence cannot be executed without presidential approval.
Federal law provides that when a court-martial sentence extends to death, the death portion “may not be executed until approved by the President.”
The president also has authority to commute or remit the sentence.
The Pentagon’s announcement means the President has now approved Hasan’s sentence.
The Army secretary will handle subsequent steps, including setting the time and place of execution.
Hasan could still seek federal court intervention
Presidential approval does not necessarily mean an execution will occur quickly.
Army legal scholarship published earlier this year specifically examined Hasan’s case and warned that presidential approval does not remove a military capital case completely from judicial review.
Habeas corpus proceedings in civilian federal courts remain possible.
A direct precedent shows how significant that process can be.
President George W. Bush approved the death sentence of Army Pvt. Ronald Gray in July 2008.
The Army subsequently scheduled Gray’s execution for Dec. 10, 2008.
Gray sought relief in the U.S. District Court for the District of Kansas.
The federal court stayed his execution in November 2008 while he pursued habeas corpus proceedings.
Gray remains on military death row.
The Gray case therefore demonstrates why Hasan’s execution should not be described as imminent until the Army establishes a date and remaining legal challenges become clearer.
Four prisoners on military death row
Hasan is one of four prisoners on the U.S. military’s death row, according to an Army Lawyer review published in May.
The other three are Ronald Gray, Hasan Akbar and Timothy Hennis.
Military death sentences are exceedingly rare, and actual executions are rarer still.
The United States military has not executed a prisoner since Army Pvt. John A. Bennett was hanged at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, on April 13, 1961.
Bennett had been convicted of rape and attempted murder.
That means an execution of Hasan would end a 65-year period without a U.S. military execution.
The method selected for Hasan adds another historical dimension.
Stars and Stripes and Army Times report that an Army firing-squad execution would be the first since World War II.
Army Times identifies Pvt. Eddie Slovik as the last soldier executed by an Army firing squad. Slovik was executed in France on Jan. 31, 1945, after being convicted of desertion during World War II.
That historical distinction makes it important to describe Hasan’s case conditionally: if the sentence is carried out by firing squad, it would be the first U.S. military execution of any kind since 1961 and the first Army firing-squad execution since World War II.
Fort Hood name is once again accurate
The name of the Texas installation has itself undergone significant changes since the shooting.
The installation was called Fort Hood when Hasan carried out the attack in 2009.
It was redesignated Fort Cavazos in May 2023 in honor of Gen. Richard E. Cavazos as part of a congressionally mandated effort to remove names associated with the Confederacy.
In 2025, the Army changed the installation’s name back to Fort Hood — but with a different namesake.
The post now honors Col. Robert Benjamin Hood, a World War I officer and Distinguished Service Cross recipient.
An Army ceremony on July 28, 2025, formally marked the transition from Fort Cavazos back to Fort Hood.
As a result, “Fort Hood” is accurate both when describing the installation at the time of the 2009 attack and when referring to its current official name.
Execution would make military history
Trump’s approval represents one of the most consequential developments in the Hasan case since the Supreme Court declined to review his conviction and sentence.
A military jury convicted Hasan.
His death sentence survived the military appellate system.
The Supreme Court declined to hear his case.
Hegseth sought presidential action, and Trump has now approved death by U.S. Army firing squad.
But another important stage remains.
The Army secretary must establish the time and place of the execution, and Hasan could seek intervention from the civilian federal courts.
The experience of Ronald Gray shows that those proceedings can prevent an execution from taking place even after a president has approved a military death sentence and the Army has selected an execution date.
For that reason, the most precise description of Hasan’s status is that Trump has approved his execution by Army firing squad, but no execution date has yet been publicly announced, and additional federal court litigation remains possible.
If the execution ultimately proceeds, it will mark the first time in 65 years that the United States military has carried out a death sentence — and the first Army execution by firing squad since World War II.
