Hegseth’s Unprecedented Plan to Livestream Nidal Hasan’s Execution Stuns Pentagon
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced that the military plans to livestream the execution of Nidal Hasan, the former Army major convicted in the 2009 Fort Hood shooting that killed 13 people. Hasan is scheduled to die by firing squad on December 12, 2025, and Hegseth said the event will be made public. “We’ll make sure that people are able to watch it, that it’s public, because people need to understand that there’s serious consequences for these types of things,” Hegseth said during an interview with far-right podcaster Jack Posobiec aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln. The announcement, made while Hegseth was welcoming the crew home from a Middle East deployment, caught officials across the Pentagon and the Army off guard, according to three sources familiar with the matter who spoke to CNN.nnThe decision to livestream a military execution is highly unusual. In the decades since the military last carried out an execution in 1961, courts-martial have occasionally handed down death sentences, but actual executions have remained extraordinarily rare due to extensive appellate reviews and the requirement for executive branch sign-off. Hasan’s case has followed that pattern: his sentence remained in place across multiple appeals, and he exhausted his final appeal in 2025. Now, with the execution date set, the military is preparing for a firing squad—a method not used by the U.S. military in over 60 years. The plan to broadcast the event publicly adds a new layer of controversy.nnLegal experts are raising serious concerns. Geoffrey Corn, a Texas Tech University law professor and former Army Judge Advocate General’s Corps officer, told CBS News that the plan to livestream the execution “raises significant moral questions, above and beyond the questions related to the death penalty generally.” Corn’s comments reflect a broader unease among military and legal professionals about the implications of turning an execution into a public spectacle. The Pentagon has not yet released details on how the livestream would be conducted, who would have access, or whether it would be delayed or edited. The announcement has also sparked debate about the role of media and public oversight in capital punishment, especially within the military justice system.nnAs the execution date approaches, the decision to livestream Hasan’s death is
Shimanta Das 
