Fort Knox: Decades of Conjecture
His comments immediately became well-known, and US Senator Rand Paul (R-Ky) responded by endorsing more openness. Paul endorsed the notion of yearly audits of Fort Knox and said, “Let’s do it.”
Musk’s doubts are in line with long-standing worries about the safety and openness of Fort Knox, which is home to a sizeable amount of the US gold reserves. Although there isn’t any hard proof that any gold is disappearing, the facility’s secrecy has long been the subject of conspiracy theories.
Approximately 147.3 million troy ounces of gold, or nearly 59% of the Treasury’s total reserves, are currently held at Fort Knox, according to the US Mint. This gold has a book value of about $6 billion, with the government valuing it at $42.22 per ounce. The true market value, however, is thought to be approximately $435 billion, given that market prices are higher than $2,930 per ounce.
Fort Knox: What Is It?
One of the safest places in the world is the US Bullion Depository in Fort Knox, Kentucky. In contrast to other establishments, it only acts as a repository for the US Treasury’s and other government agencies’ holdings of precious metal bullion; it does not create currency or mint coins.
Situated inside the Fort Knox Army base, the facility is highly guarded by the US Mint Police. Only a few people fully understand the procedures needed to access the vault, and security is so tight that no visitors are allowed inside.
Only three known visits by unauthorized personnel have taken place since its founding in 1936. President Franklin D. Roosevelt visited the location for the first time in 1943. A congressional delegation attempted to debunk claims of lost gold in the second case, which took place in 1974. More recently, access was provided to Kentucky Governor Matt Bevin, Senator Mitch McConnell, and then-Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin in 2017. Bevin assured the people after the visit that “the gold is safe.”
The History of Fort Knox
The US government wanted a safe, central place for its gold stockpiles, so it built Fort Knox in the 1930s. Prior to its construction, a large portion of the nation’s gold was kept on the East Coast, which was thought to be open to foreign invasions given that Europe was on the verge of World War II.
The area was picked because it was inland and close to a significant military facility. Beginning in 1937, gold supplies arrived via US Mail, protected by the battle vehicles of the 1st US Cavalry Regiment.
Fort Knox contained up to 649.6 million ounces of gold at its height in 1941. Although storing gold has always been its main function, the facility has occasionally protected other valuable items, such as the Declaration of Independence and the US Constitution during World War II.
Since there haven’t been any notable gold deposits or withdrawals in recent years, the facility is still essentially unaltered today. During planned audits, only tiny samples have been taken out on a regular basis for purity testing.
Reiterated Requests for Openness
Senator Rand Paul has been an outspoken supporter of greater openness on Fort Knox’s gold holdings. “I think the more sunlight, the better,” he said on Fox News. The more openness, the better.
For more than ten years, Paul has tried to set up a visit to confirm the reserves, but his plans have not yet come to fruition. He asserted that although he was given permission to visit Fort Knox during the first term of former President Donald Trump, the trip never happened.
Another supporter of auditing Fort Knox is his father, former US Representative Ron Paul. “I think the gold is there,” he said in an interview with Gold Telegraph, but he questioned who owned it and whether there were any possible financial transactions associated with it. In order to advocate for a comprehensive audit of the reserves, Ron Paul first proposed the “Gold Reserve Transparency Act” in 2011.
Trump Responds to Musk’s Question
Recently, President Donald Trump was questioned on Musk’s remarks made on Air Force One. Trump gave a cryptic response when a reporter asked if Musk’s worries were related to possible Pentagon budget cuts, stating that Musk wants to make sure “the gold is there.”
“If the gold isn’t there, we’re going to be very upset,” Trump said in response to additional questions about where the gold might have gone.
US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent recently reiterated that Fort Knox is regularly audited in spite of the increased scrutiny. “We do an audit every year,” he said in a recent interview. Every piece of gold is there and accounted for.
In an effort to allay public suspicion, Bessent reportedly indicated that he would be amenable to letting interested senators see the vaults in person.
The Significance of Fort Knox
With more than 8,100 metric tons of gold in its reserves, the United States continues to possess the highest amount in the world, more than twice as much as Germany, which comes in second. This represents about 4 percent of the world’s total supply of aboveground gold.
The majority of the US reserves are kept at Fort Knox, but a sizeable amount is also kept at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.
Gold has long been essential to the stability of the world economy. Central banks, such as the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, nevertheless have sizable gold holdings even in a time when fiat currencies predominate.
