(NewsNation) — President Donald Trump said during his speech at the CPAC conference that Elon Musk will be reviewing Fort Knox, the depository in Kentucky for American gold reserves, to ensure that gold still exists there.
“We’re going to open up the doors. We’re going to inspect Fort Knox,” Trump said. “I don’t want to open it and the cupboards are bare.”
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According to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, an audit is done on Fort Knox every year, and “all the gold is present and accounted for.”
What is the Fort Knox depository?
The United States Bullion Depository, located at Fort Knox in Kentucky, has stored reserves for the United States since 1937. It is also used as the Army’s human resources command center and is where the largest annual training for the Army is held each summer.
Fort Knox is about 35 miles south of Louisville, Kentucky, and is over 100,000 acres. It was created during World War I as Camp Knox, an artillery range named after Major General Henry Knox, according to the Kentucky Historical Society Foundation.
During World War II, the Army created the Armored Force there, ordering thousands of soldiers to go to Fort Knox and be introduced to the tank. It was known as the “Home of Cavalry and Armor” for almost 80 years, according to The Associated Press.
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Then, in 2005, the Armor Center and School was moved to Georgia, and the Human Resource Command Center of Excellence was created in Fort Knox.
How much gold is at Fort Knox?
According to the United States Mint, the amount of gold holdings at Fort Knox currently adds up to 147.3 million ounces, with half of the Treasury’s stored gold being kept there. The only gold that has ever been removed was extremely small to test the purity during the regularly scheduled audits.
Those samples are the only gold from Fort Knox that has been transferred to or from the depository for years. The gold’s book value is currently at $42.22 per ounce. The depository has about $436 billion worth of gold, according to Forbes. However, the government says the value of gold at Fort Knox is only $6 billion.
Is Fort Knox secure?
The depository is seen as extremely secure, with no one person having knowledge of every single procedure to open the vault, according to The Associated Press.
FORT KNOX, KY – JULY 01: A cadet wielding an M249 fires in the direction of their opposing forces near the objective while other cadets move forward in Training Area 9 during Army ROTC Cadet Summer Training on July 1, 2021 in Fort Knox, Kentucky. (Photo by Jon Cherry/Getty Images)
The only things that are publicly known include when the facility was built and how it was made. In 1936, the depository was made with 16,000 cubic feet of granite, 4,200 cubic yards of concrete, 750 tons of reinforcing steel and 670 tons of structural steel. It is heavily guarded and has only allowed visitors three separate times.
One visit was on Sept. 23, 1974, when the vault was opened to journalists and a congressional delegation. Before this, President Franklin D. Roosevelt was the only person to access the vaults. The second visit was on Aug. 24, 2017, when Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin, Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin and congressional representatives visited.
Why is Elon Musk visiting Fort Knox?
The main reason is to see if the gold is still there. Starting last week, Musk posted on X, questioning if the gold was still present: “Who is confirming that gold wasn’t stolen from Fort Knox? Maybe it’s there, maybe it’s not. That gold is owned by the American public! We want to know if it’s still there.”
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While there has been no evidence of missing gold at Fort Knox up to this point, Musk still posted on X, saying that there should be a live video walkthrough of the depository.
Mnuchin told CNBC on Thursday that it would be easy to have Fort Knox audited if that’s what Trump wants.
“The gold was there when I visited it, and I hope nobody’s moved it. I’m sure they haven’t,” he added.
Is this visit part of Elon Musk’s DOGE initiatives?
This visit doesn’t seem directly related to the Department of Government Efficiency’s (DOGE) initiative to cut government spending.
