Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s announcement that the execution of the convicted mass shooter at Fort Hood would be shown in public took people at the Pentagon and the military by surprise, three sources familiar with the matter told CNN.
Hegseth made the announcement Wednesday in an interview with far-right podcaster Jack Posobiec aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln, where he had gone to deliver a speech to the crew welcoming them home after their deployment to the Middle East.
“We’ll make sure that people can watch it, that it’s public, because people need to understand that these kinds of things have serious consequences,” Hegseth said in the interview.
The comment was the first time many in the military and Pentagon had heard of the idea of a firing squad execution of Nidal Hasan in Texas being made public, and questions immediately arose about what “public” would mean. There are military regulations defining who can witness a military execution, including the family of the prisoner and victims, representatives of the media and a chaplain.
But it was decided by Hegseth, acting Secretary of the Army Adam Telle, Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell and his team that “public” would mean the event would be broadcast live, a close source said. The Pentagon later confirmed this to the media, saying in a statement: “The secretary is correct. This will be broadcast live. Details will follow.”
The military submitted questions to the Pentagon, and a Pentagon spokesperson said it had nothing to add beyond confirming Thursday that the event would be livestreamed.
The idea shocked many service members and veterans and sparked a bipartisan backlash. Vice President JD Vance on Friday cast doubt on whether the live broadcast could ultimately happen, saying he didn’t know “if it was actually going to happen” but said if it did, “I won’t watch it.”
“When we carry out public executions, it takes away from everything that America stands for,” an Army officer who has been deployed several times to the Middle East told CNN. “The generational harm caused by allowing soldiers in uniform to stand over a man in a wheelchair and watch him get shot is irreparable. »
President Donald Trump on Friday welcomed the idea of execution by firing squad.
“We are sentencing a man to death who killed 14 soldiers a few years ago. Death by firing squad – and he deserves it,” the president said to applause at a White House event honoring Christopher Columbus.
Trump told CNN affiliate WSTM on Friday that he was not involved in the decision to livestream the execution, adding, “but I understand the decision.”
Asked about the live broadcast by reporters at the White House earlier Friday, the president said his administration would make a decision on the matter, while reiterating that Hasan would be killed and “shot.” He did not respond when a reporter asked if he would watch the live broadcast.
FCC Chairman Brendan Carr told CNBC’s “Squawk on the Street” that it was his understanding the execution would not be televised — but that he would defer to Hegseth and “his decisions on how to move forward.”
Many details regarding the live broadcast have not yet been finalized, and multiple sources told CNN that officials have been working to find answers since its announcement. A second close source told CNN that great care was taken to determine which soldiers would shoot Hasan, taking into account the potential psychological impacts of such an action. A specific unit was selected to carry out the execution, the source said.
Broadcasting the execution live presents more challenges, the source said, including any effort to hide the identities of the soldiers involved from the public. It is also unclear where and if the execution will be broadcast beyond the Pentagon website. Broadcasters and social media platforms impose strict restrictions on violent and disturbing content.
The first close source said questions remain about whether soldiers can refuse to participate, given that the military is moving forward as a legal order.
The second familiar source echoed the same thing, saying that while many soldiers were able to “take their lives in combat,” the situation is very different.
“It’s a situation where the guy did a really bad thing and hurt a lot of people, years later,” the second source said. “He will stand still and present himself as a target.”
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