US Homeland Security secretary sees no ‘risk’ from livestreamed execution

United States Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin has defended the planned livestreaming of Nidal Hasan’s execution, playing down warnings that images of his death by firing squad might be used as a propaganda tool for violent groups.

In an interview on Sunday with the CBS News show Face the Nation, Mullin framed the decision as part of President Donald Trump’s hardline approach to crime.

“I follow President Trump. He’s a commander-in chief of the country,” Mullin said, crediting the Republican leader with “restoring America values”.

Mullin also brushed aside concerns that the images of Hasan’s execution could be leveraged against the US.

“I don’t see an elevated risk at this point at all because of this,” Mullin said. “I think people need to understand, if you attack America, we will come after you, and we will make sure that the punishment fits the crime.”

Hasan, a former US Army major, was sentenced to death in August 2013 after being convicted of shooting and killing 12 unarmed active-duty soldiers and a retired serviceman at the Fort Hood military base in Texas.

The attack took place on November 5, 2009, when Hasan opened fire in a medical facility on the base where service members receive routine check-ups before deployment. The incident is considered one of the deadliest mass shootings to take place on a US military base.

Another 32 people were injured in the shooting. In the process of responding to the attack, police on the military base shot Hasan, leaving him paralysed from the waist down.

Critics have questioned the optics of broadcasting a firing squad killing of a man in a wheelchair. The livestreamed execution is scheduled for December 3.

But Mullin dismissed those concerns, arguing that viewership is optional. “Once again, no one has to watch it if they don’t choose to,” Mullin said.

Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth had announced plans last week to livestream the upcoming execution, triggering a wave of criticism. But Trump on Saturday suggested he may reconsider the decision.

“There are two thoughts: Don’t show it and show it. Because, you know, by showing it, maybe other people won’t be doing what he did,” Trump told reporters outside the White House.

“So I’ll make a decision, ultimately. I know what the military would like to do, but we’ll make a decision.”

Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle, however, have denounced the idea of a public execution.

In a Sunday morning appearance on NBC’s Meet the Press, Republican Senator Thom Tillis warned that broadcasting Hasan’s death would “put at risk” US lives.

“Terrorist organisations will use this as a recruiting tool. It will radicalise other people, and this is not who we are,” Tillis said.

“Look, the Fort Hood shooter should be put to death, but there’s a way to deal with this that’s proper, and there’s a way to deal with this that’s more improper than I have ever observed in my life.”

Tillis, whose term as senator ends in January, also directed criticism at Hegseth for what he suggested was reckless leadership.

“It’s another example of why Pete Hegseth and all of his bravado needs to get the hell out of the Department of Defense, because he is a failed leader,” Tillis said.

The senator was considered one of the deciding votes in Hegseth’s January 2025 confirmation vote, and he has since called his support for Hegseth’s cabinet nomination “the biggest regret” of his tenure.

Other Republicans echoed Tillis’s concerns about the livestream. Senator Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, for instance, compared the public execution with something she would expect “from terrorists and dictators”.

She also argued that Hasan has sought public attention, something he would receive in a broadcast execution.

“It would give this individual, who deserves no further notoriety, the martyrdom he seeks,” Murkowski added.

Republican Representative Tom Barrett of Michigan, a former military member, issued a statement on Friday explaining that he had trained at Fort Hood a year before the attack.

He also said he opposed the public execution, despite considering Hasan “evil”.

“Secretary Hegseth should seriously reconsider this decision,” Barrett wrote on X.

“Making a public spectacle out of an already tragic situation is unnecessary and does not serve a public interest.”

Military executions are extremely rare in the US and can only be approved by the president under the Uniform Code of Military Justice.

If the order against Hasan is carried out, he will be the first member of the US military to be executed since 1961.