Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth says Nidal Hasan, the Army major who killed 13 soldiers at Fort Hood in 2009, will be executed by firing squad in public — a sharp break from how the US has handled the death penalty for nearly a century.

• The execution is set for December 3rd at Fort Hood, timed to the same day of the week and hour as the 2009 attack.
• Soldiers with rifles will carry it out, and the plan is for the public to be able to watch it.
• The last public execution in the US was in Kentucky in 1936; most states banned them starting in the 1830s.
• Hasan had contact with radical cleric Anwar al-Awlaki before the shooting, which the Obama administration labeled "workplace violence" rather than terrorism.
• The argument for going public is deterrence — making the cost visible to anyone inside the ranks who might be drawn to the same thing.

Outlook: Expect a fight over whether the execution can actually be broadcast, since major platforms are unlikely to host a live stream of it.