Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced his desire for the execution of Nidal Hasan to be public. Hasan is the former Army psychiatrist convicted of killing 13 people and injuring over 30 during a 2009 shooting at Fort Hood, Texas. This execution, scheduled for December 3, could be the United States’ first public execution in almost 90 years.
President Donald Trump has approved the execution to occur by firing squad. Hegseth, speaking with Jack Posobiec of Real America’s Voice on the USS Abraham Lincoln, shared that soldiers with rifles would carry out the execution and the process would be accessible to the public.
The exact meaning of “public” remains unclear. There is uncertainty over whether general spectators would be allowed or if the execution might be livestreamed. The last known public execution in the U.S. was Rainey Bethea’s hanging in 1936, Kentucky.
Newsweek sought further clarity from the Pentagon, but the White House has declined to comment, directing inquiries to the Department of Defense (DOD).
John Galligan, a retired colonel and former military judge, who has experience representing Hasan in civil matters, highlighted that Army Regulation 190-55 specifies who can witness military executions. The regulation excludes the general public and restricts media access. Galligan remarked in an email to Newsweek that Hegseth’s statement might be uninformed given this context.
This situation is evolving and updates will be provided as more details emerge.
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