Pete Hegseth announces time and date of Nidal Hasan firing squad - the execution will be 'public'

US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth has announced the date and time of Nidal Hasan's execution by firing squad.

Hasan, the convicted terrorist who killed 13 service personnel at Fort Hood in 2009, will go before a firing squad, and Hegseth confirmed that he wants the execution to take place in public.

Nidal Hasan was sentenced to death for the Fort Hood massacre

Hasan killed 13 unarmed soldiers at Fort Hood, as well as injuring another 32 people in the shooting.

On Monday, Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell announced that Pete Hegseth had asked for that execution to take place by firing squad, and Donald Trump had agreed to it.

"Judgement day for Hasan has finally come," Parnell said.

Pete Hegseth said the execution will be 'public'. Credit: Fox News

Hasan was a US Army Major and psychiatrist at the time of the incident, and said after his attack that he believed he was working to protect Muslims and the Taliban in Afghanistan.

The November 5 attack was the deadliest non-combat attack on an American military base.

Now, his execution date and time have been set by Hegseth, who announced the news today (October 8).

He said: "[It's a] no brainer - execution by firing squad.

"US Army Major betrays his country, radical Islamist kills a bunch of Americans at Fort Hood, of course we're doing to do it [the execution] at Fort Hood.

"We're going to do it on a Thursday, we're going to do it at 1:00, which is when he did it.

"It hasn't been since World War Two since we've done that.

"Well, I kinda like the mentality we had in World War Two, which was win.

"Which was understand when the enemy attacks you, you need to stand your ground."

He later continued: "So he's going to get a firing squad of soldiers, as it should be, and we'll make sure that people are able to watch it, that it's public, because people need to understand that there are serious consequences for these types of things."

Nidal Hasan. Credit: Bell County Sheriff's Office

Execution date for Nidal Hasan set

According to a US Army memo, the execution will take place on December 3 at 1:00pm CDT, at Fort Hood in Texas.

In his statement announcing the execution and the approval of the firing squad, Parnell said: "Secretary of War Pete Hegseth has recommended - and President Donald J. Trump has approved - death by US Army firing squad for convicted terrorist Nidal Malik Hasan, the jihadist who opened fire on unarmed American soldiers at Fort Hood in 2009."

Hasan will become the first military execution since 1961 and the first firing squad execution since the end of World War Two.

Three other men remain on military death row currently.