Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Thursday that he wants the U.S. military’s first firing squad execution since World War II to be made public.
The comments came just days after President Donald Trump signed off on the execution of Nidal Malik Hasan, the former Army psychiatrist who killed 13 people in a 2009 mass shooting at the Fort Hood post in Killeen, Texas. Hasan was first sentenced to death in 2013.
It was Hegseth who recommended that Hasan be executed by firing squad.
Speaking with Real America’s Voice host Jack Posobiec aboard the USS Lincoln, Hegseth called the decision a “no-brainer.”
“No brainer, execution by firing squad,” Hegseth said. “Army major betrays his country, radical Islamist kills a bunch of Americans at Fort Hood.”
The defense secretary then laid out how he intends for the execution to be carried out.
“Of course we’re going to do it at Fort Hood. We’re going to do it on a Thursday. We’re going to do it at 1 o’clock, which is when he did it, and it’s going to be soldiers with rifles executing the firing squad,” he said.
Hegseth noted that the military has not carried out a firing squad execution since World War II, and he made clear he sees value in the mindset of that era.
“It hadn’t been since World War II since we’ve done that. Well, I kind of like the mentality we had in World War II, which was win, which was understand when the enemy attacks you, you need to stand your ground,” he said.
Following the interview, the Pentagon announced that the execution will be livestreamed. Hegseth also said he wants the public to be able to watch it.
The defense secretary took aim at how the attack was characterized under former President Barack Obama.
“Remember what Obama called it? ‘Workplace violence,’” Hegseth said. “That’s what we’re up against. That’s the worldview we’re up against, is workplace violence.”
Hegseth rejected that label, describing the shooting in far starker terms.
“We know what it is. It was a radical Islamist attack in uniform, inside the ranks,” he said.
He went on to explain why he believes the execution should be carried out by soldiers and in full public view.
“And so he’s going to get a firing squad of soldiers, as it should be, and we’ll make sure that people are able to watch it, that it’s public, because people need to understand that this is– there’s serious consequences for these types of things,” Hegseth said.
The decision marks a dramatic moment for the military, which has not used a firing squad to carry out an execution in roughly eight decades, since World War II.
For Hegseth, the choice of method, location and timing is meant to send a message. By holding the execution at Fort Hood, on a Thursday at 1 o’clock, the time of the attack, and by having soldiers carry it out, the defense secretary is framing the punishment as a direct answer to what he calls a betrayal from within the ranks.
The execution, now approved by Trump, will be livestreamed, according to the Pentagon.
