Should the Public Watch an Execution? You Have a Say.
Imagine turning on your phone and finding a public execution in your feed, next to the weather and the high school football scores.
That could happen in December. On October 8, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said the public will be able to watch the execution of Nidal Hasan, the former Army psychiatrist who killed 13 people at Fort Hood, Texas, in 2009 (1). A military jury sentenced Hasan to death in 2013. The Army has scheduled his execution by firing squad for December 3 at 1 p.m. at Fort Hood.
This article does not take a side in the death-penalty controversy. It’s about a different question that every resident, whatever their views on the death sentence, can help answer: should the government make an execution public?
What is happening?
This would be the first U.S. military execution since 1961. President Donald Trump approved the execution in early October on Hegseth’s recommendation. The Army then set the date and place.
Hegseth told an interviewer that people should be able to watch so they understand there are serious consequences for crimes like Hasan’s. He didn’t say how. On October 9, Democracy Now! reported that the military will livestream the execution, citing Hegseth’s remarks (2). As of that day, the Pentagon itself had not announced how the public would watch.
Who decides?
The Army has written rules for this. Army Regulation 190-55, the Army’s procedure for military executions, spells out who may attend (3). The list includes prison officials, the execution team, the prisoner’s lawyer, family members the prisoner requests, a surviving victim or a victim’s relative or representative, and at least two reporters chosen from a pool.
The regulation also says no one under 18 may watch, and that witnesses who don’t behave appropriately can be removed. A public broadcast would have no way to enforce either rule.
The Army updated the regulation in 2019, giving the Secretary of the Army the authority to choose the execution method, but it kept the witness limits. The current version also says the Army will keep the execution team’s identities confidential to the fullest extent the law allows. A broadcast would test that promise. The Army’s Provost Marshal General, who oversees the regulation, can approve exceptions. Congress, through the House and Senate Armed Services Committees, oversees the Army and can ask for answers.
Why it matters.
America has been here before. In August 1936, an estimated 15,000 to 20,000 people gathered in Owensboro, Kentucky, to watch the country’s last public execution (4). The national coverage of that crowd led Kentucky to end public hangings in 1938. No public execution has taken place in the U.S. since. Around the world, they are rare: in 2025, Amnesty International documented public executions in only two countries, Afghanistan and Iran.
The federal government has faced a version of this question before. In 2001, when Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh was executed, 232 survivors and family members watched on closed-circuit TV at a federal facility in Oklahoma City (6). The Justice Department set rules that prevented anyone from recording or making the feed public. Families could witness the execution without it becoming a public event.
Hegseth argues that public viewing shows the serious consequences of violent crime. But the execution is the consequence. Watching it doesn’t make it any more severe.
Public viewing adds a new set of problems. How would anyone keep children from seeing the footage, as the Army’s own rule requires? What would it mean for the victims’ families to see this execution replayed online for years (5)? And should Hasan get an audience? He once told military mental health staff he could still be a martyr if executed.
Congress officials oversee this decision right now. Your voice can reach them. Here’s how.
Take Action
The execution is set for December 3, so act in the next few weeks. Whatever your view, these steps put your question in front of the decision-makers.
1. Call or write to our members of Congress: District 5 Representative Tom McClintock and U.S. Senators Alex Padilla and Adam Schiff. Ask them to require the Army to answer four questions:
- Does the Army plan to broadcast or livestream the execution, and how would that fit its own witness rules?
- Would public viewing need a special exception to Army Regulation 190-55?
- How would the Army keep anyone under 18 from watching?
- Has the Army considered a private, closed-circuit option for the Fort Hood families, as the government did in 2001?
2. Write to the Congressional Armed Services Committees. These committees oversee the Army. In the U.S. Senate, contact Chairman Roger Wicker and Ranking Member Jack Reed. In the House of Representatives, contact Chairman Mike Rogers (202) 225-8901) and Ranking Member Adam Smith. A short, polite letter asking for a public briefing carries weight. Under its own rules, the Army must publish its media pool plan at least 14 days before the execution, by November 19 if the December 3 execution date holds.
3. Write a letter to the editor. Send a letter to Union Democrat or your preferred outlet, checking its word limit first. Say where you stand and why. Local letters show elected officials what constituents think.
4. Talk it over with neighbors. Share this article at your next club, church, or community meeting. Ask people where they stand on public viewing, not just on the death sentence. This conversation brings people with different views to the same table.
NOTES
- Joe Walsh, “Hegseth Says Fort Hood Shooter’s Execution Will Be Made Public,” CBS News, Oct. 8, 2026.
- “Pentagon Plans to Live-Stream First U.S. Public Execution Since 1936,” Democracy Now!, Oct. 9, 2026.
- “Army Regulation 190-55: U.S. Army Corrections System: Procedures for Military Executions,” U.S. Department of the Army, Effective April 5, 2019; certified current Oct. 30, 2023.
- Mark Murrmann, “20,000 Watched the Last Public Hanging 78 Years Ago.” Mother Jones, Aug. 2014.
- “Death penalty in 2025: Facts and figures,” Amnesty International, May 2026.
- U.S. Department of Justice, (Press release on victim viewing of the McVeigh execution), April 19, 2001.
- “Victims’ Families Take Solace in Execution,” Associated Press, Fox News, January 13, 2015.
- Michael Gracyk and Norman Merchant, “US Fort Hood Gunman Sentenced to Death,” The Times of Israel, August 28, 2013.