WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump has approved the use of a military firing squad to execute former U.S. Army Major Nidal Hasan, who was convicted of killing 13 people and wounding 32 others in the 2009 Fort Hood shooting in Texas.

The Pentagon said the decision was made following a recommendation from Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. Hasan was sentenced to death by a military jury in 2013 after being convicted of multiple counts of premeditated murder and attempted murder.

The execution date has not yet been announced. Under U.S. military law, a death sentence imposed by court-martial requires presidential approval before it can be carried out.

If the execution takes place, it would be the first U.S. military execution since 1961 and the first known military firing-squad execution since 1945. The development comes after the federal government expanded its list of permitted execution methods amid continuing difficulties with lethal-injection procedures.

The decision is expected to renew debate over military executions, capital punishment and alternative execution methods in the United States.