On October 8th, 2026, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth announced that the execution of Nidal Hasan, the assailant in the Fort Hood mass shooting, will be live-streamed for the nation's eyes. 

The lives taken and changed by Hasan's actions on November 5th, 2009, will not be reversed by broadcasting his death to the nation. The publicization of this execution has been equated to the actions of terror groups per the New York Times: "The practice of filming and releasing video of an execution is more common with terror groups like the Islamic State, which became infamous for videos of gruesome executions of prisoners who were not given due process or convicted of crimes" (Cameron). 

The United States Constitution, per the Eighth Amendment, prohibits federal and state governments from enacting cruel or unusual punishments. The lack of precedent for this broadcast is not only unusual, but arguably cruel as well. 

We call on all Americans, regardless of political affiliation, to condemn the actions of the federal government and for the Acting Secretary of the Army , Adam R. Telle , to halt this publicization. Otherwise, our nation will stoop to the practices we have previously disavowed. 


Source:
Cameron, Chris. “Fort Hood Shooter’s Execution Will Be Public and Streamed Live, Pentagon Says.” The New York Times, 8 Oct. 2026, https://www.nytimes.com/2026/10/08/us/politics/fort-hood-execution-streamed-public.html Accessed 8 Oct. 2026.