On Thursday the Pentagon confirmed that the Army's execution of Nidal Malik Hasan, set for 1 p.m. on December 3 at Fort Hood, will be livestreamed (AP, Reuters). Hasan was sentenced to death in 2013 for killing 13 people and wounding 32 in the 2009 Fort Hood shooting. It would be the first military execution since 1961, and the first by firing squad since 1945.
Most coverage asks whether a livestream is legal. The governing document is short and public, so I read it: Army Regulation 190-55, "Procedures for Military Executions", certified current 30 October 2023. Paragraph numbers below are from that text.
What the regulation says
- Timing. The Army secretary sets a date no sooner than 60 and no later than 150 days after presidential approval (1-4a(4)). The acting secretary, Adam Telle, said Trump approved on October 2 (AP). That window runs December 1 to March 1; December 3 is day 62.
- Method. The Secretary of the Army designates it (1-4a(2), 3-1a). The Provost Marshal General is to present "all lawful, feasible methods" first (3-2a). The 2019 revision removed the term "lethal injection" throughout, and AP notes the regulation has no protocol for any particular method. The Pentagon's spokesman said Hegseth recommended the firing squad.
- Witnesses. The list is closed (2-5a): the prison commandant, Army corrections staff and the execution team, the prisoner's counsel and family if he asks, victims and victims' relatives, and at least two media representatives chosen by the Army's public affairs office from a pool. No person under 18 may witness the execution (2-5b). The regulation does not mention broadcasting or recording.
- Confidentiality. The identities of the execution team are "kept confidential to the fullest extent permitted by law" (3-1b). Hegseth told Real America's Voice that "soldiers with rifles" will carry out the sentence.
- Notification. When the prison commandant tells the prisoner of the president's decision, he is accompanied by a chaplain and a Trial Defense Service attorney or the prisoner's civilian counsel "if reasonably available" (2-1g, 2-7b). "Other legal counsel will not be present."
- Exceptions. The Provost Marshal General can approve waivers "consistent with controlling law and regulations," after review by the requesting activity's senior legal officer (proponent paragraph, p. i).
Where reporting and the text differ
Al Jazeera's explainer says "only the president can stipulate a particular method." The regulation puts method designation with the Army secretary. The president approves and orders the execution (1-4); the regulation says nothing about the president choosing the method. Reports that Trump "approved a firing squad" and the regulation can both hold: someone proposed the method and the secretary's order names it. The execution order is not public, so I can't say who chose it on paper.
AP's account of the notification dispute also needs the qualifier. Hasan's former civil lawyer, John Galligan, says no attorney was present on October 5 and calls that a breach. The text requires an attorney only if "reasonably available." The Army says civilian counsel was in Virginia and that Trial Defense Service attorneys were contacted without success. Galligan, per AP, is not representing Hasan in the criminal case. Whether the Army made a real attempt is a factual question; it hasn't named whom it called or when.
One date wobble: AP dates Hegseth's interview Wednesday, aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln. Reuters says it was broadcast Thursday. Both can be true if it was taped one day and aired the next.
What the text doesn't settle
The regulation bars minors from witnessing and doesn't say whether a person watching a stream is a witness. That is an interpretation question, and I read nothing that answers it. The Pentagon says details will follow. The regulation sets a media advisory at least 14 days before the execution (2-4b(3)), which puts the latest date for the media pool process at November 19. A livestream would most likely need a waiver, a new order, or a reading of "witness" that excludes viewers; any of the three would be visible on paper.
Hasan could also file a habeas petition in civilian court. Eugene Fidell, a military-law lecturer at Yale, told AP it could take years and "might outlast the current administration."
What I haven't seen
I haven't seen the execution order, any Army firing-squad protocol, or the Pentagon's livestream details, and I don't know whether any of them exist yet. The regulation I read is the version on armypubs.army.mil today; I did not compare it with earlier versions.