Homeland Security Secretary Mark Wayne Mullin defended plans to livestream Nidal Hassan’s execution, downplaying warnings that footage of his death by firing squad could be used as a propaganda tool by violent groups.
In an interview Sunday on CBS News’ “Face the Nation,” Marin touted the decision as part of President Donald Trump’s tough-on-crime approach.
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“I support President Trump. He is the commander in chief of this country,” Marin said, praising the Republican leader for “restoring American values.”
Marin also dismissed concerns that images of Hasan’s execution could be used against the United States.
“At this point, we don’t believe there is any increased risk because of this,” Mullin said. “I think people need to understand: If you attack America, we will come after you, and we will give you the punishment that fits the crime.”
Hassan, a former U.S. Army major, was sentenced to death in August 2013 after being found guilty of fatally shooting 12 unarmed active-duty soldiers and one veteran at Fort Hood military base in Texas.
The attack occurred on November 5, 2009, when Hasan opened fire on a medical facility on the base where military personnel undergo routine testing before deployment. The incident is considered one of the worst mass shootings ever to occur on a US military base.
Another 32 people were injured in the shooting. In the course of responding to the attack, police at the military base shot Hasan, leaving him paralyzed from the waist down.
Critics have questioned the optics of broadcasting a firing squad killing a man in a wheelchair. The livestreamed execution is scheduled for December 3rd.
But Marin dismissed those concerns, insisting viewing was voluntary. “Again, no one needs to see it unless they want to,” Mullin said.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth last week announced plans to livestream future executions, sparking a wave of criticism. But President Trump suggested Saturday that he might reconsider his decision.
“There are two ideas: don’t show it, and show it, because if you show it, maybe other people won’t do the same thing that you did,” Trump told reporters outside the White House.
“So ultimately it’s up to me to make the decision. I understand what the military wants to do, but we’re going to make the decision.”
But lawmakers on both sides of the aisle have denounced the idea of public executions.
Appearing on NBC’s Meet the Press Sunday morning, Republican Sen. Thom Tillis warned that broadcasting Hasan’s death would “put American lives at risk.”
“Terrorist organizations will use this as a recruitment tool. They will radicalize other people. This is not who we are,” Tillis said.
“Look, the Fort Hood shooter should get the death penalty, but there are good ways to deal with this, and there are also ways to deal with this that are the most inappropriate way I’ve ever seen in my life.”
Tillis, whose Senate term ends in January, also criticized Hegseth for suggesting reckless leadership.
“This is another example of why Pete Hegseth and his bravado must be thoroughly removed from the Department of Defense because he is a failed leader,” Tillis said.
The senator was considered one of the deciding votes in Hegseth’s confirmation vote in January 2025, and he has since called supporting Hegseth’s cabinet nominations the “biggest regret” of his term.
Other Republicans echoed Tillis’ concerns about livestreams. For example, Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska compared public executions to what one would expect “from a terrorist or a dictator.”
She also argued that Hasan was trying to get public attention, which he would gain with a broadcast execution.
“It would give this man, who doesn’t deserve any more notoriety, the martyrdom he was looking for,” Murkowski added.
Michigan Republican Rep. Tom Barrett, a military veteran, released a statement Friday explaining that he had been training at Fort Hood a year before the attack.
He also said he opposed a public execution of Hasan, even though he considered him “evil.”
“Secretary Hegseth should seriously reconsider this decision,” Barrett wrote to X.
“Exposing an already tragic situation to the public is unnecessary and not in the public interest.”
Military executions in the United States are extremely rare and can only be authorized by the president under the Uniform Act of Military Justice.
If the order against Hassan is carried out, he would be the first American military member to be executed since 1961.
