US President Donald Trump has authorized the shooting death of Nidal Malik Hasan, a former military officer who was convicted of a mass shooting at Fort Hood Army base in Texas in 2009.
If the move goes ahead, it would mean the return of military executions, which have not been carried out since 1961.
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Death sentences and executions in the U.S. military are rare and require presidential approval.
Under the military’s military justice regulations, premeditated murder is punishable by death, but the process is often rigorous and lengthy.
However, the Trump administration has signaled a willingness to seek the death penalty for serious crimes, including those against civilians.
Here’s what we know about this incident.
What is an executive order?
Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth initially recommended ordering Hassan’s execution, which President Trump has now approved, according to an X statement posted by Pentagon Press Secretary Sean Parnell.
Parnell said the date and time of the execution will be determined by acting Army Secretary Adam Tere.
“The day of judgment for Hasan has finally come,” he wrote.
What happened at Fort Hood?
On November 5, 2009, Army Maj. Hasan, a U.S.-born unit psychiatrist, entered an Army processing center at Fort Hood, yelled “Allahu Akbar” (God is great), and opened fire on his fellow personnel as they waited for treatment.
The 10-minute gunfire killed 13 people, including a pregnant soldier, and injured 32 others. Analysts say it is the deadliest shooting incident targeting military personnel on a U.S. military base.
Hasan was shot several times after two police officers engaged in an exchange, leaving him paralyzed from the waist down.
What happened during the trial?
Hasan was immediately court-martialed, and military prosecutors initially sought the death penalty against him.
But the process will continue for years after his conviction, largely because the U.S. military dislikes the death penalty.
During the trial, Mr. Hasan admitted to the attack on his behalf, saying he was trying to stop the sending of troops to Afghanistan and the killing of fellow Muslims. He was scheduled to deploy in a few weeks.
An investigation revealed that before the shooting, Hassan had exchanged emails with Anwar al-Awlaki, a Yemeni-American scholar suspected of having ties to al-Qaeda. He also repeatedly spoke out against his colleagues over the U.S. wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and the treatment of Muslims in the military.
Hasan made little effort to defend himself, and his lawyer argued that his testimony helped his opponents.
He was indicted and convicted in 2013 on 13 counts of premeditated murder, with a jury recommending the maximum penalty of death. Controversially, Hasan was charged with “workplace violence” as the Military Justice Act does not cover the crime of “terrorism”.
The verdict was further delayed by military-mandated appeals, not by Hasan’s request for an appeal.
In 2020, the U.S. Army Court of Criminal Appeals upheld the death penalty against Hasan, and in 2023, the U.S. Court of Military Appeals issued a similar ruling. In March 2025, the U.S. Supreme Court denied a mandatory petition for judicial review.
In September 2025, Hegseth announced that he was seeking presidential approval for Hassan’s execution.
At the time, there were no reports that Hegseth specifically sought the death penalty by firing squad.
The President has the ultimate authority to specify the specified method of enforcement.
Other possible forms of execution include lethal injection and hanging, which have been used in the past by the US military.
What’s next?
President Trump’s approval begins a series of steps to prepare for the execution, but Hasan can put the execution on hold for years by appealing to the civil federal court system.
However, that may be unlikely as Hasan made no effort to defend himself during the trial.
He has been remanded to the U.S. Disciplinary Barracks at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, and three others have been held on death row for years.
Among them is Hasan Akbar, who was convicted of two counts of murder after attacking a fellow service member at a Kuwait base during the 2003 invasion of Iraq.
The other is serial killer and rapist Ronald Gray, who was convicted in 2008 of four counts of murder and eight counts of rape. He was approved for execution that year under President George W. Bush, but the process was put on hold by a judge.
Former sergeant Timothy Hennis was convicted of triple murder in 2010 and is on death row.
The last military execution took place in 1961, when former soldier John Bennett was hanged for raping an 11-year-old girl.
