The last military execution of any kind was 1961. Nidal Hasan — the Army psychiatrist who walked into the Soldier Readiness Center at Fort Hood, Texas on November 5, 2009, screamed "Allahu Akbar," and opened fire on unarmed service members — is about to end that 65 year referendum.

Secretary of War Pete Hegseth recommended to President Trump that he approved the execution of Nadal by firing squad. Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell had one line for reporters: "Judgement day for Hasan has finally come."

Hasan killed 13 people that day — 12 active-duty soldiers and one retired serviceman — and wounded 32 others. He later told a Sanity Board, flatly, "I shot to kill." A military court convicted him in August 2013 on 45 counts of premeditated murder and attempted premeditated murder. The death sentence was unanimous.

That was thirteen years ago. The appeals process ground forward at the speed you'd expect. The Army Court of Criminal Appeals upheld the sentence in 2020. The Court of Appeals for Armed Forces affirmed it in 2023. The U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear the case in March 2025. Every off-ramp, taken. Every appeal, denied. The conviction stood at every level.

Then in April 2026, the Trump administration added firing squad to the list of authorized military execution methods, alongside gas asphyxiation and electrocution. Hegseth's recommendation followed. On October 5, Hegseth posted a single word to X: "Justice."

Under the Uniform Code of Military Justice, the execution must occur between 60 and 150 days after presidential approval. Hasan currently sits on military death row at Fort Leavenworth, paralyzed from the waist down after police shot him at the scene in 2009. He is one of four men on military death row.

Hasan's only legal recourse left is to file a habeas corpus petition in federal court. That argument relies on the fact that the punishment be considered cruel and unusual punishment considering the crime. This from the man who opened fire in a medical processing center full of soldiers who couldn't shoot back. No one expects his final appeal to persuade anyone.

Hasan made minimal effort to defend himself during his court-martial. He stated openly that his attack was intended to prevent soldiers from deploying to Afghanistan and killing fellow Muslims. He wasn't mentally ill. He wasn't confused. He was an man who had been radicalized online by other Islamic jihadists to attack anyone willing to stop Muslims. No matter if they were killing U.S. soldiers or not.

The families of the thirteen dead have waited since 2009. The wounded — thirty-two of them — have carried that day in their bodies for seventeen years.

The firing squad requires five volunteer soldiers. The date falls sometime before early 2027. Hasan will be the first American service member executed by the military in over sixty years.