Who Is Nidal Hasan? Trump Green-Lights Firing Squad for Fort Hood Shooter
Newsweek · C · trust 56/100
0 Share Newsweek is a Trust Project member See more of our trusted coverage when you search. Prefer Newsweek on Google to see more of our trusted coverage when you search. President Donald Trump on Monday approved the execution of former Army Major Nidal Malik Hasan, the military psychiatrist convicted of carrying out the 2009 mass shooting at Fort Hood , Texas , one of the deadliest attacks ever on a U.S. military installation.
The Pentagon said Hasan is to be executed by firing squad , a rare method that would make him the first military prisoner executed since 1961. Trump's approval moves the case into the next stage of the military death penalty process, though further litigation in civilian federal court could still delay the execution.
The decision comes days after a failed attempt to execute Tennessee death-row inmate Christa Pike by lethal injection renewed scrutiny of execution procedures and prompted Governor Bill Lee to halt the state's remaining executions this year.
The decision has also renewed attention on Hasan, whose November 5, 2009, attack left 13 people dead and more than 30 others wounded at what is now Fort Cavazos, then known as Fort Hood.
Hasan, an Army psychiatrist, was sentenced to death in 2013 after admitting he carried out the attack. Prosecutors described the shooting as an act of terrorism inspired by extremist Islamist beliefs .
Born and raised in Virginia to parents who emigrated from a Palestinian town near Jerusalem, Hasan joined the Army after high school and attended medical school through a military scholarship program.
He later trained as a psychiatrist and worked at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, where he treated service members returning from combat deployments in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Those who knew Hasan before the attack often described him as quiet, religious and intensely private.
Former colleagues and relatives later described him as increasingly troubled by the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and unhappy about the possibility of a deployment overseas.
His cousin, Nader Hasan, described a deployment as "probably his worst nightmare."
Military supervisors reportedly documented professional difficulties before the shooting. The Associated Press reported at the time that Hasan received a poor performance evaluation while working at Walter Reed and required additional counseling and supervision.
Investigators also examined online postings attributed to someone using Hasan's name that appeared to justify violence committed in defense of Muslims, though officials never conclusively established that he wrote the messages.
On November 5, 2009, Hasan entered a processing center at Fort Hood where soldiers were preparing for deployment.
Witnesses said he shouted "Allahu Akbar," Arabic for "God is great," before opening fire with a laser-sighted handgun.
Thirteen people were killed and more than 30 others wounded in the attack, making it one of the deadliest shootings ever carried out on a U.S. military base.
Hasan was shot by civilian police officers responding to the scene but survived. He was left partially paralyzed and has spent years incarcerated at the U.S. Disciplinary Barracks at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas.
During his court-martial, Hasan largely declined to challenge the government's case.
Instead, he openly acknowledged being the shooter and told jurors that evidence would show he carried out the attack.
He described himself as a soldier who had "switched sides" and argued that his actions were intended to prevent U.S. troops from deploying to Muslim countries.
A military jury convicted him of 13 counts of premeditated murder and dozens of counts of attempted murder before sentencing him to death in 2013.
Trump approved Hasan's execution by firing squad days after Tennessee's failed attempt to execute Pike by lethal injection renewed scrutiny of execution procedures.
Pike remained alive after prison officials administered two doses of pentobarbital on September 30. She was transported to a hospital, where she is on a ventilator, according to her attorney, and Lee subsequently halted the state's remaining executions for 2026 and ordered a comprehensive third-party review.
The Pentagon has not said the Tennessee case influenced the decision to execute Hasan by firing squad.
Military executions are exceptionally rare. Only four inmates, including Hasan, remain on military death row at Fort Leavenworth.
The last person executed by the U.S. military was Army Private John Bennett, who was hanged in 1961 after being convicted of raping and attempting to murder an 11-year-old girl.
If Hasan's execution proceeds, it would be the first carried out by the U.S. military in more than six decades and the first Army firing-squad execution since Private Eddie Slovik was executed for desertion during World War II in 1945.
Hasan's conviction and death sentence have already survived the military appellate process. The Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces affirmed his conviction and sentence in March 2024, and the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear his appeal in March 2025.
Trump's approval triggers the next procedural stage. The secretary of the Army will determine the time and place of the execution. Army policy calls for an execution to occur no sooner than 60 days and no later than 150 days after presidential approval, although additional litigation could alter that timetable.
Hasan may still seek habeas corpus review in civilian federal court, a process that legal experts say could delay the execution for years.
A previous military execution approved by a president never took place. President George W. Bush approved the execution of Army Specialist Ronald Gray in 2008, but court action halted the execution, and Gray remains on military death row.
The decision is also consistent with Trump's support for capital punishment. The federal government carried out 13 executions between 2020 and early 2021 after Trump resumed federal…
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