The Department of Justice announced Friday that it would reinstate firing squads and the use of pentobarbital as authorized methods for federal executions, expanding the protocols available for carrying out death sentences.

The decision reauthorizes firing squads as an alternative execution method alongside lethal injection for federal death penalty cases. The Justice Department also approved the use of pentobarbital, a barbiturate drug, as part of its lethal injection protocol.

The announcement represents a restoration of previously available execution methods that had been part of federal death penalty procedures. The protocols apply to federal death penalty cases, which are distinct from state-level capital punishment proceedings.

The Justice Department indicated it would also seek to reduce the length of some legal appeals processes related to death penalty cases, though specific details about proposed timeline changes were not immediately provided.

Federal executions are relatively rare compared to state-level death sentences. The reinstatement of these protocols provides federal authorities with multiple options for carrying out court-ordered executions when they occur.