US Army Prepares for First Executions in Over 60 Years Amid Trump's Death Penalty Push

The US Army is preparing to carry out its first executions of death-row service members since 1961 if President Donald Trump orders them, ABC News reports, citing an internal planning document. Trump has advocated wider application of the death penalty as a deterrent against violent crime. ABC News reported on Saturday that the plan – known as Operation Resolute Justice – was circulated internally in February and requires the military to be ready to carry out executions “no later than 150 days from the date of presidential approval of the death sentences.” The preparations reportedly include reviewing execution procedures and transferring the four death-row inmates from the US Disciplinary Barracks at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas to the federal execution facility in Terre Haute, Indiana in coordination with the Federal Bureau of Prisons. Army spokesperson Cynthia Smith downplayed the preparations as a “standard component of our continued planning,” noting that Trump has yet to issue a specific order, as quoted by the publication. Last September, Secretary of War Pete Hegseth said he would seek presidential approval for the execution of Nidal Hasan. The former US Army major and physician was sentenced to death for the 2009 Fort Hood mass shooting that left 13 people dead and 32 wounded. The other three army death-row inmates include Sergeant Hasan Akbar, former army cook Ronald Gray, and former master sergeant Timothy Hennis, all of whom were convicted on multiple counts of premeditated murder. During his first term in office, the Trump administration oversaw 13 federal executions – more than in any other presidential term in modern history. Shortly after returning to office in 2025, Trump revoked a moratorium on federal executions imposed by his predecessor, Joe Biden, in 2021.