The last time that the United States carried out a military execution was in 1961. Officials hung Army soldier John Bennett at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, for the rape and attempted murder of an 11-year-old Austrian girl.
The Trump administration has a plan to potentially reinstitute the practice. Called Operation Resolute Justice, the U.S. Army would conduct executions of military prisons on death row if President Donald Trump approves them. Task & Purpose first reported details of the operation.
Also Read: The only four inmates on the US military’s death row
Issued internally in February, the operation calls for inmates to be moved from Fort Leavenworth to the Federal Correctional Institution in Terre Haute, Indiana. All federal executions have occurred at the Indiana complex since 2001.
Operation Resolute Justice mandates the Army to prepare for executions “no later than 150 days from the date of presidential approval of the death sentences,” Task & Purpose revealed.
“Exercises regarding this operation have been conducted regularly for the past 20 years,” Army spokeswoman Cynthia Smith said in a statement to the media. “These drills are a standard component of our continued planning and preparation if the president approves a death sentence.”
The president must approve any execution that a military court hands down.
The White House did not respond to a request from ABC News for comment.
Death Penalty Restored
Smith said the Army hasn’t received any orders from Trump. On January 20, 2025—the first day of his second term in the White House—Trump restored the death penalty via an executive order.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said last year that he would seek the execution for Nidal Hasan. The Army psychiatrist killed 13 people and wounded 32 others in a shooting spree at Fort Hood, Texas, in 2009. It was the deadliest mass shooting ever on a U.S. military base.
“I am 100% committed to ensuring the death penalty is carried out for Nidal Hasan,” Hegseth told The Hill, a website covering politics, in September. “… The victims and survivors deserve justice without delays.”
Last month, Hegseth awarded Purple Hearts to nine veterans who sustained wounds after Army Sgt. Hasan Akbar threw grenades and fired on soldiers at Camp Pennsylvania, Kuwait, in 2003, ABC News reported. Two service members died in the attack. A military jury convicted Akbar of premeditated murder and attempted murder.
Besides Hasan and Akbar, two other men are on military’s death row.
Former Army Spc. Ronald Gray is a serial murderer and rapist. President George W. Bush approved Gray’s execution in 2008 before a judge stayed the execution. Another judge lifted that stay in 2016, ABC News reported.
A North Carolina court convicted former Master Sgt. Timothy Hennis in 1986 for raping a woman and killing her, along with two of her daughters. After the conviction was overturned, a court tried Hennis again in 1989. It acquitted him then, but DNA analysis not available at the time later raised questions about Hennis’ involvement in the case.
Double jeopardy rules don’t apply to military courts if a service member commits an offense while actively serving, according to ABC. So the Army recalled Hennis to active duty and tried him again. A court-martial panel convicted him and sentenced him to die.
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