The public will be able to watch the execution of a former US Army major by firing squad, US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth has said.

An official from the Defence Department told the BBC the execution of Nidal Hasan, who fatally shot 13 unarmed US soldiers at Fort Hood in 2009, would be livestreamed.

The Pentagon had announced earlier this week that it would execute Hasan in the first military execution in more than 60 years.

"We'll make sure that people are able to watch it, that it's public," Hegseth said on Thursday. "Because people need to understand that there's serious consequences for these types of things."

Hegseth said in an interview with conservative TV outlet Real America's Voice that Hasan is "gonna get a firing squad of soldiers. As it should be".

The BBC has contacted the White House for comment on whether President Donald Trump supports a livestreamed public execution.

The execution is scheduled to take place at Fort Hood in Texas on 3 December, the secretary of the US Army said on Tuesday. It will be the first military execution by firing squad since the end of World War Two.

The defence secretary had made the recommendation, and President Donald Trump approved it, Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell said on Monday.

Hasan, a US Army psychiatrist from Virginia, admitted in court that he was the gunman and apologised for "any mistakes". He said during his court-martial in 2013 that he believed he was protecting Muslims and the Taliban in Afghanistan.

The killings on 5 November 2009 were the deadliest ever non-combat attack on an American military base.

The shooting took place in a crowded medical building where deploying soldiers were awaiting check-ups and vaccines.