Hasan, a former Army psychiatrist, was convicted over the 2009 shooting at Fort Hood, Texas, in which 13 people were killed and 32 others wounded.
Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell said Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth recommended the firing-squad execution and President Donald Trump approved it. The Secretary of the Army will determine the time and location of the execution.
If carried out, it would be the first execution by the U.S. military since 1961, when Army soldier John Bennett was hanged. It would also be the first U.S. military execution by firing squad since 1945.
Hasan was convicted in 2013 of 13 counts of premeditated murder and 32 counts of attempted premeditated murder. A military jury unanimously sentenced him to death.
During his 2013 court-martial, Hasan said he carried out the attack in an effort to protect Muslims in Afghanistan from U.S. troops. He opened fire on November 5, 2009, at a medical facility on the military base, which was being used by soldiers preparing for deployment.
The attack was one of the deadliest incidents at a U.S. military installation that was not part of an active war zone. Twelve of those killed were active-duty soldiers, while the 13th victim was a retired serviceman.
Hasan is currently one of four people on the U.S. military’s death row. Under military law, a death sentence must be approved by the President, and the case must go through the required appeals and legal review before the execution can take place.
The use of firing squads in the United States is rare. South Carolina carried out a firing-squad execution last year, marking the first such execution in the country in 15 years. Idaho, Mississippi, Oklahoma and Utah are also among the states that permit the method.
Trump has long supported the death penalty. On the first day of his second term in January 2025, he signed an executive order directing the Justice Department to pursue the death penalty more aggressively, after the Biden administration had imposed a temporary pause on federal executions.
