Despite evidence surrounding Hasan’s extremist ideology and his contacts with radical cleric Anwar al-Awlaki, the Defense Department and federal authorities initially treated the shooting as “workplace violence” rather than a terrorist attack. That classification became a major source of anger among victims and their families, particularly because it affected military benefits and recognition of those wounded in the attack.
Obama’s administration was subsequently criticized by lawmakers and victims for its handling of the attack. Obama himself later referred to Fort Hood in the context of individuals inspired by “violent jihad,” but the government’s official treatment of the massacre as workplace violence remained controversial for years.
Now, the Trump administration has taken a dramatically different approach.
Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell announced that Hegseth had recommended the firing squad and that Trump had approved the decision.
“Secretary of War Pete Hegseth has recommended — and President Donald J. Trump has approved — death by U.S. Army firing squad for convicted terrorist Nidal Malik Hasan, the jihadist who opened fire on unarmed American soldiers at Fort Hood in 2009. He killed 13 people and wounded 32 others while shouting “Allahu Akbar” during the attack.
The Secretary of the Army will set the time and place of the execution. Judgement day for Hasan has finally come.”
The execution will be historic.
If carried out, it will be the first U.S. military execution since 1961, when the military last put a condemned service member to death. It would also represent an exceptionally rare use of the firing squad as an execution method.
Hasan has spent years on military death row at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, after receiving his sentence from a military jury. During his court-martial, he represented himself and did not seriously contest responsibility for the shooting. His case eventually went through years of appeals before the Supreme Court declined to hear his challenge in 2025.
The Fort Hood attack was especially disturbing because Hasan was not an outsider who had simply wandered onto the installation. He was an Army officer and psychiatrist entrusted with treating American troops.
Instead, prosecutors established that he deliberately targeted fellow service members.
The attack occurred as soldiers were preparing for deployments and undergoing processing at the massive Texas installation. Hasan entered a medical facility and began firing at unarmed personnel. The carnage ended only after responding police officers confronted him and shot him, leaving him partially paralyzed.
For the families who lost loved ones, the government’s decision comes after years of waiting.
Thirteen Americans were killed. Dozens more survived with physical and emotional scars. For years, victims and their supporters argued that the attack deserved to be recognized for what they believed it was: an act motivated by Islamist extremism rather than simply an ordinary episode of workplace violence.
The legal system ultimately delivered a death sentence.
Now Trump has authorized the military to carry it out.
The Army secretary will determine when and where Hasan’s execution takes place. No execution date has yet been announced.
The decision also underscores the Trump administration’s willingness to use the death penalty in cases involving terrorism and the most serious violent crimes.
For Hasan, the long legal battle is nearing its end.
For the families of the Fort Hood victims, the announcement marks a moment they have waited more than a decade to see.
The man convicted of carrying out the 2009 massacre is now facing judgment by the institution he once served—and, pending any remaining legal developments, an Army firing squad.
