The Pentagon's plan to livestream the firing-squad execution of Fort Hood shooter Nidal Hasan has drawn objections from lawmakers in both parties, religious leaders and human rights officials, even as President Trump said Friday he "absolutely" approved of the broadcast.
Hasan, a former Army major and psychiatrist, killed 13 unarmed soldiers and wounded 32 others at the Texas base in 2009 in what remains the deadliest non-combat attack on a US military installation. He is scheduled to be executed by firing squad on 3 December, which the Pentagon says will be the first American military execution in more than 60 years. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said this week the execution would be made public, though officials have not specified how or where the livestream would be shown.
Vance Expresses Doubt, Trump Backs the Plan
Vice President JD Vance told reporters Friday he was uncertain the livestream would actually happen — "I don't know that that's actually going to happen," he said — and added, "if it's through livestream, I'm not going to be watching it." Vance called Hasan's attack "the worst terrorist attack on American soil outside of 9/11" but questioned the format, citing his Catholic faith.
"He killed 13, 14 people, badly wounded 20-some-odd people, and he's totally nuts. So I really don't care how he goes, as long as he goes."
President Donald Trump, on the planned execution
The Pentagon confirmed to the BBC that the execution "will be livestreamed" but offered no further details. Opposition has come from unexpected quarters. Republican Senator John Curtis invoked Rome's history of "bloody spectacle," warning that "broadcasting a death diminishes us and is not an effective deterrent," while Georgia Republican Austin Scott said live-streaming executions "is what jihadists do," adding "America is better than that." Democratic Senator Chris Murphy called the idea "disgusting" and compared it to executions staged by the Islamic State group. Former national security adviser John Bolton said the plan looked like "a mark by Secretary Hegseth doing something he thinks will please President Trump."
Legal and Rights Concerns
The UN human rights office said a livestreamed execution would be "tantamount to a public execution and would breach the absolute prohibition of torture." The US Conference of Catholic Bishops said it was reacting with "shock and great sorrow." According to Amnesty International, only two countries, Iran and Afghanistan, carried out public executions last year among more than 2,700 executions recorded worldwide. Military law requires presidential approval and appellate review before an execution can proceed, and it remains unclear which platform, if any, would carry the broadcast; Meta, YouTube and TikTok all have policies barring livestreamed violent death, with limited exceptions for matters of public interest that none have said would apply here.
