Hegseth has the shooting broadcast publicly

At a military base

Hegseth wants to have the shooting broadcast publicly

An ex-military psychiatrist sentenced to death is to be shot dead in December. US Defense Secretary Hegseth plans to show the execution publicly.

US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth plans to hold the upcoming execution of convicted assassin Nidal Hasan in public. Hegseth announced this to the right-wing conservative broadcaster Real America’s Voice. The shooting is scheduled for December 3 at the Fort Hood military base in the state Texas scheduled. It will be broadcast in a live stream, the Pentagon said, according to the AP news agency.

Hasan opened fire on soldiers at this base in 2009. 13 people were killed and 32 others were injured. According to his own statements, he fired at his comrades because they were in Afghanistan waged war against Muslims. A military court sentenced the then military psychiatrist to death in 2013. Hegseth justified his plan with the aim of deterrence: “People must understand that such acts have serious consequences.”

Public executions are in the USA not common for decades. The last execution by firing squad by the US military took place in 1945. The last public execution in the United States dates back to 1936, when a man was hanged in the state of Kentucky in front of thousands of onlookers. Previous attempts by media outlets to televise executions in the United States have been blocked by the courts.

Under U.S. military law, the president must authorize an execution by firing squad. president Donald Trump had done this on the recommendation of Hegseth, as the Pentagon announced on Monday. The White House declined to comment on whether Trump supported the live broadcast and referred questions to the Pentagon.

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Public shootings were used as a deterrent, among other things, during the American Civil War in the 19th century.

So far in 2026, 25 people have been executed in the USA – all men, all by lethal injection. The main driver is the state Florida: With 15 executions, the state is responsible for around 60 percent of all cases this year. Gov. Ron DeSantis signs a death warrant almost every two weeks.

The increase is accompanied by a change in political course: after taking office, President Donald Trump issued a decree ordering that the death penalty should be consistently pursued again

Most recently, a botched execution in Tennessee caused a stir. Christa Pike, who was convicted of murder, survived the execution of her death sentence with lethal injection on September 30th. According to authorities, she had been given the two doses of pentobarbital required by the execution protocol. She was then taken to hospital unconscious. She has been conscious and speaking again since the beginning of this week.