The US Army is ready to execute four soldiers sentenced to death if President Donald Trump issues the order. It would be the first military execution in the US in more than half a century, ABC reports.
The plan, dubbed "Operation "Resolute Justice", issued in February, directs Army officials to coordinate with the Federal Bureau of Prisons to transfer prisoners from disciplinary barracks in Kansas to the federal execution center in Indiana. It is there that the Justice Department carried out a series of non-military executions during Trump's first term, the channel reports.
The United States has not executed military personnel since 1961, when Private Jon Bennett was put to death for the rape and attempted murder of an 11-year-old girl in Austria, ABC reports.
Meanwhile, Army spokeswoman Cynthia Smith said the service conducts execution planning exercises, as it does for other potential missions, as the military regularly tries to anticipate orders from the White House.
„Preparations for this operation have been taking place regularly for the past 20 years. These exercises are a standard component of our ongoing planning in the event the president authorizes the death penalty,” Smith said, adding that no specific order has yet been received from the president.
Last year, Trump signed an executive order to introduce the death penalty for murders committed in Washington, D.C., citing the special status of the capital. The Justice Department has since indicated that it will seek to expand the death penalty in the United States.
In April of this year, the Justice Department announced a policy to restore federal executions, lift the moratorium, and expand available methods of execution, including by firing squad.