Markwayne Mullin defends planned livestreamed execution of Fort Hood shooter

Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin has rejected concerns that livestreaming the execution of Fort Hood mass shooter Nidal Malik Hasan could make him a martyr. Speaking on Sunday on the CBS News programme Face the Nation, Mullin stated that people who oppose the idea do not have to watch the event. The Washington Examiner reported on the interview. [1]

The planned execution by firing squad is scheduled for December. According to the Washington Examiner, Mullin told interviewer Margaret Brennan that he sees no elevated risk of radicalization in the United States from broadcasting the sentence, even as Brennan noted that Hasan uses a wheelchair. [1]

As FTMQ News reported earlier, Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth previously announced that the execution would be livestreamed to the public. However, Vice President JD Vance expressed doubt over whether the military firing squad execution would actually take place as announced. The execution scheduled for 3 December would be the first United States military execution since 1961. [3]

Hasan killed 13 people and injured 32 others during a 2009 mass shooting at the Fort Hood military base. Mullin has served as the ninth United States secretary of homeland security since 2026, having previously represented Oklahoma in the United States Senate and the House of Representatives. [2][3]