President Donald Trump has approved execution by firing squad for Nidal Malik Hasan, the former Army psychiatrist convicted of killing 13 people in the 2009 mass shooting at Fort Hood.
Hasan has been on military death row for more than a decade after a military jury convicted him in 2013 of 13 counts of premeditated murder and 32 counts of attempted premeditated murder.
Chief Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell announced Monday that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth had recommended the method of execution and Trump approved it.
“Secretary of War [Defense] Pete Hegseth has recommended — and President Donald J. Trump has approved — death by U.S. Army firing squad for convicted terrorist Nidal Malik Hasan, the jihadist who opened fire on unarmed American soldiers at Fort Hood in 2009,” Parnell wrote on X.
Hegseth responded to the announcement with a single word: “Justice.”
Hasan killed 13 people at Fort Hood
The attack happened Nov. 5, 2009, inside the Soldier Readiness Center at Fort Hood, the sprawling Army installation in Central Texas now known as Fort Cavazos.
Hasan, then an Army psychiatrist, opened fire on soldiers and a civilian inside the medical processing facility. Thirteen people were killed and 32 others were wounded.
Parnell said Hasan shouted “Allahu Akbar” during the attack.
Hasan was eventually shot and captured alive. He was left paralyzed from the waist down.
Four years later, a military jury found Hasan guilty and sentenced him to death. His lengthy appeals process continued for years, but the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear his latest appeal in March 2025, effectively exhausting his available appeals under the military justice system.
Army will determine execution date
Trump's approval does not mean Hasan will be executed immediately.
Parnell said the secretary of the Army will determine when and where the execution takes place.
“The Secretary of the Army will set the time and place of the execution. Judgement day for Hasan has finally come,” Parnell wrote.
Under Army policies, Hasan's execution would take place no sooner than 60 days and no later than 150 days after presidential approval.
Hasan is currently incarcerated at the U.S. Disciplinary Barracks at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. He is expected to be transferred to the federal execution facility in Terre Haute, Indiana.
He is one of four prisoners on the military's death row.
An execution would also mark a rare use of capital punishment by the U.S. military. The Army has not carried out an execution since 1961.
Trump administration expands use of firing squads
The decision comes as the Trump administration has moved to broaden the federal government's options for carrying out death sentences.
In April 2026, the Justice Department announced measures responding to Trump's executive order on capital punishment, including expanding execution protocols to allow additional methods such as firing squads and streamlining internal procedures for death penalty cases.
Trump's executive order, titled “Restoring the Death Penalty and Protecting Public Safety,” also directed the attorney general to pursue capital punishment in certain cases, including eligible cases involving the killing of law enforcement officers.
