The Army’s contingency plan, dubbed Operation Resolute Justice, outlines how the service would execute military prisoners if a presidential order were issued. The plan calls for the Federal Bureau of Prisons to transport inmates from Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, to the Federal Correctional Institution in Terre Haute, Indiana, and includes a designated viewing station for witnesses. Regular drills have been run for the past twenty years, but no execution order has been signed.
Four former soldiers—Timothy Hennis, Nidal Hasan, Ronald Gray and Hasan Akbar—are currently on military death row at the U.S. Disciplinary Barracks in Fort Leavenworth. Their convictions span the 2003 Kuwait grenade attack, the 2009 Fort Hood shooting, a 1988 murder‑rape case, and a 1985 triple murder. The last military execution took place in 1961, and 135 were carried out between 1916 and 1961. In January 2025, President Trump signed an executive order restoring the death penalty and rescinded a federal moratorium, while Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth reportedly sought presidential approval for Hasan’s execution.
Legal analysts note that any execution would require explicit presidential political will—a factor that has been absent since the early 2000s. Until a president signs an order, Operation Resolute Justice remains a prepared but unused protocol.
