Pete Hegseth trades military law for a digital spectacle

By Adele Rutherford · Reporting from Atlanta · October 8, 2026

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth will livestream the firing squad execution of Nidal Hasan, a move that replaces the solemnity of the law with a political performance.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is wrong. He is not wrong for seeking the death of Nidal Hasan. Hasan was convicted of killing 13 people and wounding 32 others. He is wrong because he has decided to treat the Department of Defense like a cable news set. By announcing that the execution will be livestreamed, Hegseth has traded the quiet authority of military justice for the loud approval of a digital crowd. He is confusing the administration of a sentence with the staging of a show.

The performance of punishment

The details are precise. According to NBC News, the execution is set for December 3 at 1 p.m. at Fort Hood. The method will be a firing squad of soldiers. Hegseth called this a "no-brainer" during an interview with Real America’s Voice. He stated that people need to understand there are "serious consequences" for these types of things. When asked if Hasan had made final requests, Hegseth replied, "Don’t care."

This is the language of a commentator, not a Secretary of Defense. Hegseth is a man who understands the camera. He spent years as a co-host on Fox & Friends Weekend. He was the publisher of The Princeton Tory. He entered his current office via a 51–50 tie-breaking vote in the Senate. Now, he is applying that same appetite for the spotlight to the taking of a human life.

Hegseth is also ignoring the record of the prisoner. Hasan is paralyzed from the waist down. He told a panel of military mental health professionals that execution would make him a martyr. By turning the event into a public broadcast, Hegseth is handing the prisoner the very trophy he sought. This is not justice; it is a failure of intelligence.

A break in the long record

The military has a long record of restraint regarding capital punishment. The last military execution occurred in 1961. That was the hanging of Army Pvt. John Bennett. The last firing squad execution took place in 1945. That was the case of Pvt. Eddie Slovik, who was executed for desertion.

The law does not move this slowly by accident. It moves slowly because legitimacy is a capital stock that spends fast and refills slowly. By reviving the firing squad and adding a livestream, Hegseth is not returning to tradition. He is inventing a new, televised form of retribution.

The case shares a mechanism with the Execution of Henry Wirz. Wirz was a medical professional and an officer who used his position to commit mass atrocities against fellow soldiers. Hasan, an Army psychiatrist and major, did the same during a 2009 shooting. The betrayal of the healer's role is the common thread. But the law historically handled such betrayals with a solemnity that avoided the circus. The state's power is most legitimate when it is most dispassionate.

The fallacy of the public lesson

The strongest case for a public execution is the one Hegseth makes. His advocates would argue that a livestream serves as a deterrent. They would say that the horror of the attack demands a visible, public accounting. They would argue that the victims' families deserve the satisfaction of knowing the world watched the debt be paid.

This argument fails because deterrence does not require a camera. AP News reports that the Pentagon has already confirmed the livestream. But the legal basis for the death penalty was already established. The threat of death is the deterrent. The broadcast is merely a trophy. If the rule of law is that certain crimes merit death, that rule is strengthened by a professional, private execution. It is weakened when the government turns the gallows into a content stream.

A rule that only works while your people hold the camera is not a rule. It is a preference. If we accept the livestreaming of a "radical Islamist" today, we accept the tool for whoever holds the office tomorrow. The law must be a shield that protects the process, even when the prisoner is loathed.

Eugene R. Fidell of Yale Law School notes that Hasan could file a habeas petition in civilian court to delay the event. This is the only process left that can save the military from itself. The courts may yet decide that the state cannot turn a death sentence into a digital event.

The Department of Defense is not a media company. When the Secretary of Defense treats a firing squad as a "no-brainer" for the public to watch, he degrades the uniform of the soldiers tasked with pulling the triggers. He has replaced the blindfold of justice with a lens. In doing so, he has made the military a participant in a political pageant.

Pete Hegseth trades military law for a digital spectacle

The performance of punishment

A break in the long record

The fallacy of the public lesson

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