Trump, Hegseth Clear Way for First Army Firing Squad Execution Since 1945

Nidal Hasan fired inside a crowded soldier-processing center at Fort Hood on Nov. 5, 2009, in one of the deadliest shootings ever on a U.S. base.

President Donald Trump has approved a recommendation to put convicted Fort Hood shooter Nidal Malik Hasan to death by U.S. Army firing squad, clearing a procedural hurdle toward what would be the first U.S. military execution by firing squad since 1945.

Hasan, a former Army major and psychiatrist, was convicted and condemned to death by a military jury in August 2013 for the 2009 attack. He opened fire inside a crowded soldier processing center Nov. 5, 2009, at Fort Hood, Texas, in what resulted as one of the deadliest mass shootings ever on a U.S. military installation.

Thirteen people were killed, including 12 soldiers and one civilian, and more than 30 others were wounded.

Chief Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell announced the decision Monday on social media, saying Trump had signed off on a recommendation from Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. Parnell and Hegseth have described Hasan as a terrorist.

Acting Army Secretary Adam Telle is responsible for setting the execution date and location. Hegseth marked the news with a one-word social media post: "Justice."

Military.com reached out for comment to the Pentagon and the Army on the timeline, the logistics of an execution method unused since 1945, and the status of Hasan's remaining legal appeals.

The Pentagon declined to add any further remarks.

2009 Attack That Left 13 Dead

Hasan, an Army major, was shot roughly 17 years ago by responding officers and became paralyzed from the waist down while preparing to deploy to Afghanistan.

Witnesses testified at his court-martial that he shouted "Allahu Akbar," Arabic for "God is great," before he began firing.

A military jury convicted him of 13 counts of premeditated murder and 32 counts of attempted premeditated murder, and he has been held since at the military prison at Fort Leavenworth, Kan.

The attack was classified for years as workplace violence, a designation that drew sharp criticism from survivors and victims' families before the Army awarded Purple Hearts to the casualties in 2015.

Approved Once Before, and Still on Death Row

Trump's approval does not amount to a new sentence. The president's sign-off is one of the final steps in the military's lengthy capital review—a stage that civilian federal cases do not share, rather than a fresh verdict.

Even with the president's approval, an execution is not imminent. Hasan has not exhausted his appeals, and his case has not yet gone through habeas corpus review in federal civilian court. That process can stretch for years.

The Army Lawyer, a professional military law publication, has noted that the appellate path for capital cases is long and heavily litigated.

A recent case offers a cautionary tale. President George W. Bush approved the execution of Army Pvt. Ronald Gray in 2008. However, Gray remains on military death row today, his sentence stalled by habeas litigation that has run for more than 15 years.

First Firing Squad Since 1945

Carrying out the sentence by firing squad would revive a method the U.S. military has not used in 81 years.

The last American service member executed by firing squad was Army Pvt. Eddie Slovik, who was put to death in France in 1945 for desertion—the only U.S. soldier executed for that offense since the Civil War.

No U.S. service member has been executed by any method since 1961, when the Army hanged Pvt. John Bennett.

It remains unclear how the Army would assemble and conduct a firing squad after so many decades, and officials have not described the logistics.

Telle is now responsible for setting the execution date and location. Under military law, the scheduled execution date must fall within 60 to 150 days from the date of the president's approval, though remaining civilian appeals could delay it far longer, according to the Army Lawyer.

Hasan is one of four inmates on the military's death row at Fort Leavenworth. No execution date has been set.