Army Continues Routine Execution Protocol Drills Conducted for Past 20 Years

U.S. Army rejected reports that it is preparing to carry out executions for its four death-row inmates. An Army spokesperson said the service is not drawing up new plans and that any exercises are part of drills conducted regularly for the past 20 years.

U.S. Disciplinary Barracks,” the spokesperson said. The Secretary of the Army is the Department of War’s designated Executive Agent for Level III Corrections and holds responsibility to provide a facility for military executions.

“Exercises regarding this operation have been conducted regularly for the past twenty years,” the spokesperson added. ” The president had not taken action on the military death sentences as of June 2026. Military courts can impose death sentences, but executions cannot proceed without presidential approval.

The last military execution took place in 1961, when Pvt. John Bennett was put to death after being convicted of raping and attempting to murder an 11-year-old girl. War Secretary Pete Hegseth said in September he is 100 percent committed to ensuring the death penalty is carried out for Nidal Hasan.

“This savage terrorist deserves the harshest lawful punishment for his 2009 mass shooting at Fort Hood,” Hegseth stated. ” The Army’s death row also includes Ronald Gray, a former Army specialist and cook assigned to the 82nd Airborne Division at Fort Bragg, North Carolina.

Gray was convicted in 1988 on 14 charges, including three counts of premeditated murder, attempted murder, and three counts of rape.

Former President George W. Bush approved Gray’s execution in 2008 and set a date for December of that year. A federal judge halted the execution before it could be carried out, and the stay remained in place until another judge lifted it in 2016.

Gray remains the only military death row inmate whose execution has received presidential approval. Former Master Sgt. Timothy Hennis was convicted by a military court for the 1985 rape and murder of a woman and the murders of her two young daughters in North Carolina.

Hennis was initially convicted in state court in 1986, but the conviction was overturned on appeal because of evidentiary issues. He was acquitted at a 1989 retrial. Advances in DNA testing later allowed investigators to analyze preserved evidence, leading military prosecutors to secure a conviction.