Pentagon officials announced Monday evening that President Donald Trump has authorized the execution of Nidal Malik Hasan, the former Army major who killed 13 people at Fort Hood, Texas in 2009.

"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," said Pentagon chief spokesman Sean Parnell. "The Secretary of the Army will set the time and place of the execution. Judgement day for Hasan has finally come," Parnell added. Hegseth reposted the announcement with the single word "Justice."

The use of an execution by firing squad would mark the first time the US military carried out an execution since 1961 when Army Private John Bennett was hanged at Fort Leavenworth for the rape and attempted murder of a girl, according to a report by CNBC. The use of an execution by firing squad for Hasan would also be the first time an Army firing squad was used since Private Eddie Slovik was shot in France in 1945 during World War II, according to Stars and Stripes.

Hasan, a major and psychiatrist for the Army at the time of the shooting, entered a building where service members were processing for deployment. He fired on the troops, killing twelve soldiers and one civilian and wounding thirty plus others. Witnesses said they heard him yell "Allahu Akbar" as he continued to shoot.

Major Nidal Hasan, the Army psychiatrist who shot and killed 13 people and wounded 32 others in a 2009 shooting at Fort Hood, was convicted in 2013 of 13 counts of premeditated murder and 32 counts of attempted premeditated murder. Hasan, who was representing himself at the court-martial, told the court that he had "switched sides" and argued that he acted in defense of Taliban fighters from U.S. military operations in Afghanistan. A military jury sentenced him to death and he has since been on death row at Fort Leavenworth, Kan.

The Supreme Court declined to review the case of Nidal Hasan on March 31, 2025. Under federal law all death sentences handed down in a court-martial must be approved by a president before they can be put into effect. Hegseth said in September 2025 that he was "100 percent committed to ensuring the death penalty is carried out for Nidal Hasan."

It remains unclear whether Hasan will try to file new legal challenges in federal court to delay the execution. No date has been set for the time being.