Representative Susie Lee said Secretary of War Pete Hegseth’s plan for a public execution is barbaric, that the country has not done such a thing in nearly 100 years, and that she will use every lever she has to fight it. She said she wants swift justice for the Fort Hood victims and their families, and she asked the secretary to halt the plan and the platforms not to stream it. The Army has ordered a firing squad for Dec. 3. It has not ordered a broadcast.
“Just when you thought that Secretary Hegseth couldn’t become more unhinged, he comes up with the idea of a public execution… something this country hasn’t done in nearly 100 years,” Lee, a Nevada Democrat who represents the Third District, wrote Friday. “I want swift justice for the victims and their families. However, I will use every lever that I have to fight this barbaric plan, and I implore the Secretary to halt this and the platforms to not stream it.” She was answering a report that the execution would be livestreamed. Her office site did not carry a separate release.
The Army’s order is narrower. An Oct. 7 release said Acting Secretary of the Army Adam Telle directed on Oct. 6 that Nidal Hasan be executed by firing squad at Fort Hood, Texas, at 1 p.m. CST on Dec. 3, 2026. It said President Donald Trump approved the death sentence on Oct. 2, after a full appellate process upheld the conviction and sentence. The release does not mention a livestream, a public viewing, media access, or children.
The date sits inside a regulatory window. The Army said Regulation 190-55 requires the secretary to set an execution date 60 to 150 days after presidential approval. Dec. 3 falls in that range from Oct. 2. The regulation says the method is designated by the secretary of the Army, and that the identities of the execution team are kept confidential to the extent the law allows.
The same regulation describes a closed viewing, not a public one. It says the execution area is cleared of nonessential personnel, then opened to assembled witnesses, who are escorted from a witness assembly area and briefed on decorum. It says media representatives may not interview witnesses in the assembly or viewing areas. It does not mention a livestream, a public broadcast, or a waiver of those limits. Lee’s post treats a public stream as the plan and asks platforms not to carry it. The regulation on the books does not provide for a stream.
The Pentagon spokesman had announced the method earlier in the week. Sean Parnell, assistant to the secretary of war for public affairs, wrote Monday that Hegseth had recommended, and Trump had approved, death by Army firing squad. He said Hasan opened fire on unarmed soldiers at Fort Hood in 2009, killed 13 people, and wounded 32 others while shouting “Allahu Akbar.” He said the secretary of the Army would set the time and place. The Army release is that setting. Parnell’s post does not mention a livestream.
The conviction is on the 2013 record. A Sept. 3, 2013, Army release said a court-martial panel at Fort Hood found Maj. Nidal M. Hasan guilty of 13 counts of premeditated murder and 32 counts of attempted premeditated murder for the Nov. 5, 2009, shooting, and sentenced him to death on Aug. 28, 2013, with forfeiture of pay and dismissal. The 2026 release says the jury found him guilty of all 42 counts on Aug. 23 and set the punishment five days later. The 2013 release said the last service member executed by the military was Pvt. John A. Bennett, hanged on April 13, 1961, at Fort Leavenworth.
Lee’s “nearly 100 years” figure is hers. The Army record puts the last military execution in 1961, which is 65 years ago, and does not address the last civilian public execution. She did not cite a source for the century figure. She also said she wants swift justice for the victims. That separates her from a call to spare Hasan. Her objection is to the public character of the reported plan, not to the sentence.
The appeals path has closed, on the Army’s account. The Supreme Court docket in Hasan v. United States, No. 24-5225, shows the petition was denied on March 31, 2025. The Army release cites that denial and says the appellate process upheld the sentence. It does not say a further federal challenge is pending.
Her demand has two parts the Army order does not address. She asked Hegseth to halt the plan, and she asked platforms not to stream it. The department has not posted a response. No platform policy is on a government page. “Unhinged,” “barbaric,” and “every lever” are hers. The firing squad, the date, and the place are the Army’s. The broadcast is not.