Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said that Fort Hood shooter Nidal Hasan will get the death he “deserves” at his public execution come December.
Hasan, a former Army psychiatrist, was convicted of killing 13 people and wounding more than 30 others in a 2009 shooting rampage at Fort Hood, Texas. President Donald Trump has approved his execution by firing squad for December 3. The Army has scheduled the execution for 1 p.m. at Fort Hood.
The attack arrived during the peak of the global “War on Terrorism” initiative and investigators concluded that Hasan was motivated by Islamic extremist beliefs. They cite his pre-attack email exchanges with Anwar al-Awlaki, the al-Qaeda-linked cleric who later praised the massacre, as well as Hasan’s own statements. During his court-martial, Hasan said he had acted in defense of the Taliban, describing himself as having “switched sides.”
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Hegseth made the statement on Tuesday when traveling to Ohio and Wisconsin as part of his Arsenal of Freedom tour. They are the first public comments Hegseth has made since Trump rejected his plans to livestream Hasan’s public execution.
“I agree with the president, we spoke about it at length, positively,” Hegseth said on Tuesday when asked by a reporter if he was disappointed that the execution wouldn’t be livestreamed. “We both, you know, recognize that death by firing squad is what Nidal Hasan, a terrorist, a traitor, deserves. He will get that. The families will observe it. And the point is there’s a deterrent effect to that also, which follows through whether it’s livestreamed or not. So, I fully support the president’s approach.”
Earlier this month, Trump approved Hasan’s execution by firing squad, a rare method that would make Hasan the first U.S. military prisoner executed since 1961—and first by firing squad since World War II. Trump’s approval moved the case into the next stage of the military death penalty process, though further litigation in civilian federal court could still delay the proceedings.
Hegseth pushed for Hasan’s execution to be livestreamed, which prompted bipartisan backlash, and Trump rejected the plans after previously telling reporters that he had personally authorized the proposal to livestream Hasan’s execution.
In a post to Truth Social, Trump said that while Hasan was “a very bad and evil man” who would still die by firing squad, his death would not be streamed, despite the president feeling it “might have been a strong deterrent.”
Trump said, “many very good and well meaning people would rather not watch him die, through streaming, or through any other visual device. He will die, as scheduled, by firing squad, but this event will not be streamed.”
The victims’ immediate family members, however, can witness Hasan’s death if they choose, Trump added.
The change in plans came after intense backlash to the proposal, including concerns from the brother of a soldier who was killed in the Fort Hood shooting. He urged Trump to reconsider his decision about livestreaming Hasan’s execution. Democrats expressed overwhelming opposition to the idea, and several Republicans also broke with Trump over the livestreaming, including several senators and representatives. Vice President JD Vance also cast doubt on whether the livestream would take place.
What Is Hegseth’s Arsenal of Freedom Tour?
In January, Hegseth launched Arsenal of Freedom, a “multistate tour in support of the nation’s defense industrial base,” according to the Defense Department.
On Tuesday, the tour brought Hegseth to Dayton, Ohio, and Eau Claire, Wisconsin, where he spoke to the workforce in the defense industry.
In Wisconsin, Hegseth visited Riverside Machine & Engineering, a company that manufactures components for defense, medical and aerospace industries. In Ohio, he visited Sierra Nevada Corporation’s Aviation Innovation and Technology Center.
Newsweek’s reporters and editors used Martyn, our AI assistant, to produce this story. Learn more about Martyn here. Contact Newsweek editors on this story: Samantha Beech and Edward T. Cummins