FORT HOOD, TEXAS / RankWire.AI / – The U.S. Army has scheduled December 3, 2026, as the date for the execution of ex-Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan. The firing squad procedure is set for 1 p.m. Central Time at Fort Hood, as confirmed by Acting Army Secretary Adam Telle in an official memo detailing the date, location, and method. Hasan was sentenced to death for the 2009 Fort Hood shooting, which resulted in 13 fatalities and 32 injuries at the Texas military installation.
President Donald Trump authorized the firing squad execution following a recommendation from Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, with presidential approval required under military law before the military can carry out the death penalty. This scheduled execution will end a 65-year hiatus in U.S. military executions, the last having occurred in 1961 at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, where Private John Bennett was hanged after his conviction for rape and attempted murder under military jurisdiction.
At the time of the attack on November 5, 2009, Hasan served as an Army psychiatrist. He opened fire inside the Soldier Readiness Processing Center, where service members prepare for deployment, killing twelve active-duty personnel and one retired soldier. A military panel convicted Hasan in 2013 on 13 counts of murder and 32 counts of attempted murder, also ordering his dismissal from service along with the forfeiture of military pay and allowances.
Legal appeals span over a decade before execution
Hasan challenged his sentence through numerous appeals within the military justice system, with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces affirming his convictions and death sentence in March 2024. Following this, he petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court, which denied his request on March 31, 2025, leaving the military court’s ruling in place and closing the door to further review by the nation’s highest judicial authority.
The Army will execute the sentence at Fort Hood, the same site where Hasan carried out the massacre. During the attack, police officers shot Hasan, leaving him partially paralyzed, and he has since relied on a wheelchair. During his court-martial, Hasan admitted to the shooting, stating that he wanted to prevent U.S. troops from deploying to Afghanistan and fighting Muslims, a confession that was recorded in the official court proceedings.
Firing squad order signifies rare military case
Since April 13, 1961, the U.S. military has not carried out an execution. Before an execution can be conducted, military death sentences undergo multiple levels of mandatory review. Hasan’s case progressed through those appellate stages before Trump approved the firing squad as the method. The formal scheduling of the execution comes after years of legal deliberation, and it marks the military’s first use of a firing squad in decades.
The scheduled execution of Hasan at Fort Hood is set for December 3 at 1 p.m. Central Time. The Army has finalized the method, place, and timing of the punishment, which stems from the 2009 Fort Hood shooting and subsequent military appeals. After the Supreme Court declined further review in 2025, this firing squad execution will be the first U.S. military execution in over sixty years.