The United States has approved the execution of Nidal Hasan, the former Army psychiatrist sentenced to death for the 2009 mass shooting at Fort Hood, Texas, with the military announcing that he will be executed by firing squad.
The decision marks the first U.S. military execution in more than 60 years.
Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell said Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth recommended the execution, which was approved by President Donald Trump.
The date and location have not been announced. However, Army policy states that an execution must take place within 150 days of presidential approval and not sooner than 60 days after approval.
On November 5, 2009, Hasan, then an Army psychiatrist, opened fire at the Soldier Readiness Processing Center at Fort Hood. He killed 12 soldiers and one civilian before he was shot, severely wounded and arrested.
Hasan was convicted in 2013 of 13 counts of premeditated murder and 32 counts of attempted murder and sentenced to death. He was sent to the U.S. military detention facility at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas.
He is one of four inmates on death row in the Army justice system.
The announcement comes after ABC News reported in June that the Army had been preparing for military executions, citing internal documents and officials familiar with the plans.
The plan, known as “Operation Resolute Justice,” was issued in February and directed Army officials to coordinate with the Federal Bureau of Prisons to transfer condemned prisoners from the U.S. Disciplinary Barracks at Fort Leavenworth to the federal execution facility in Terre Haute, Indiana.
The Justice Department carried out a series of federal executions at the facility during Trump’s first term.
Army regulations require at least two media outlets to be selected to witness an execution.
The Fort Hood shooting left 13 people dead and 32 others wounded. Hasan’s execution would be the first U.S. military execution in more than six decades.
