Pentagon Officials Make Secret Admission on Hegseth’s Livestream Order
Concerns are swirling that those ordered to carry out a public execution will have no choice in the matter.
Photo Illustration by Victoria Sunday/The Daily Beast/Getty Images
Pete Hegseth’s decision to livestream a firing squad execution caught many in the military off guard—with some now sounding the alarm about how the stunt will affect those tasked with carrying it out.
Given that it is a military execution, there is likely no wiggle room for soldiers to opt out of being behind the public killing without disobeying a direct order, sources tell CNN.
A source told the outlet that there are “still questions” about whether soldiers can decline to participate in the execution. Another noted that while many soldiers may have “taken a life in combat,” an execution is different psychologically.
“This is a situation where the guy has done a very bad thing and hurt a lot of people, years removed,” the second source said. “He’s going to be immobile and put up like a target.”
The Fort Hood shooter, Nidal Malik Hasan, a former Army Major, killed 13 people and injured 32 others in a terror attack at Fort Hood in 2009. He was injured during the massacre and is now permanently confined to a wheelchair.
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Hasan, 56, was found guilty by a military jury in 2013 and sentenced to death.
FILE PHOTO: Nidal Hasan, charged with killing 13 people and wounding 31 in a November 2009 shooting spree at Fort Hood, is pictured in an undated handout photo obtained by Reuters on June 29, 2012. REUTERS/Bell County Sheriff's Office/Handout./File Photo
REUTERS/Bell County Sheriff's Office/Handout./File Photo
On Thursday, Hegseth announced the plan to livestream the firing squad in an interview with right-wing podcaster Jack Posobiec. The interview reportedly took top Army brass by surprise.
“It takes away everything America stands for when we do public executions,” an Army officer with multiple deployments to the Middle East told CNN. “The generational harm caused by allowing troops in uniform to stand in front of a man in a wheelchair and watch him get shot to death is irreparable.”
Hegseth made the announcement before speaking to returning troops on the USS Abraham Lincoln.
Eric Lee/Eric Lee, Reuters
There are also concerns that livestreaming the execution could expose the soldiers carrying out their orders to backlash and criticism, and potentially, for their identities to be found out.
FCC chair Brendan Carr said it was Hegseth’s choice whether to broadcast the execution on TV.
The Army, the Pentagon, and the White House did not respond to a request for comment.
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