Hegseth catches Army off guard with plan to livestream Fort Hood shooter's execution
MAJOR NEWS!!! @SECWAR REVEALS FORT HOOD SHOOTER’S FIRING SQUAD EXECUTION WILL BE PUBLIC Sec. Pete Hegseth says Nidal Hasan will be executed by soldiers at Fort Hood on December 3 at 1 PM—the same time as the 2009 attack. “We’ll make sure that people are able to watch it, that it’s public.” @JackPosobiec
— Real America's Voice (RAV) (@RealAmVoice) October 8, 2026
WASHINGTON, DC: Army and Pentagon staff were caught off guard after Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced that the department will livestream the firing squad execution of the convicted Fort Hood mass shooter.
Many in the Army and the Pentagon got to know about the plan to livestream the execution of Nidal Hasan from Hegseth's interview with far-right podcaster Jack Posobiec aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln on Wednesday, October 7.
Pentagon learned of livestream plan from Pete Hegseth's interview
Pete Hegseth made the comments during an interview where he welcomed the crew home from their months-long deployment to the Middle East.
“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 the interview.
His comments immediately raised questions about what “public” means.
Army rules already allow some people to watch a military execution, including the prisoner’s family, victims’ families, members of the media and a chaplain.
However, Hegseth, acting Army Secretary Adam Telle, Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell and his staff decided that making the execution “public” would mean livestreaming it, CNN reported on Saturday.
The Pentagon later confirmed this, saying, “The secretary is correct. It will be livestreamed. Details will follow.”
The Army referred questions to the Pentagon, which said it had nothing more to add beyond Thursday’s confirmation that the execution would be livestreamed.
Trump hasn't decided on livestream yet
While President Donald Trump has welcomed the idea of a firing squad execution, on Saturday he said that he hasn’t decided whether to livestream it.
“We’re giving a man the death penalty who killed 14 soldiers a couple of years ago. Death penalty through firing squad — and he deserves it,” the president said to applause during a White House event Friday honoring Christopher Columbus.
“I’ll make a decision, ultimately. I know what the military would like to do, but we’ll make a decision,” Trump said.
The execution is set for December 3 at 1 pm at Fort Hood, Texas, where Hasan killed 13 people in 2009. Whether the public will be able to watch remains unclear.
