President Donald Trump has announced plans for an inspection of Fort Knox, the iconic US gold depository in Kentucky. Trump wants to confirm that the nation’s gold reserves are still intact. Speaking at a gathering of Republican governors on Thursday, Trump stated that Elon Musk would be involved in the review.
“We’re going to open up the doors. We’re going to inspect Fort Knox,” Trump said in a speech to Republican governors Thursday evening. “I don’t want to open it and the cupboards are bare,” he added.
Treasury secretary Scott Bessent says there is an audit every year and that “all the gold is present and accounted for.”
Here’s all you want to know about Fort Knox.
The United States Bullion Depository at Fort Knox has stored precious metal bullion reserves for the United States since 1937 and has become synonymous for secure and well protected. Fort Knox is also used as the Army’s human resources command center, and it hosts the Army’s largest annual training event each summer.
Fort Knox history
The Army post is about 35 miles south of Louisville and encompasses 109,000 acres in three Kentucky counties — Bullitt, Hardin, and Mead. Camp Knox was established during World War I and became an artillery training center, according to the Army post’s website. It was made a permanent installation in 1932 and has been known since then as Fort Knox. The first gold arrived at Fort Knox in 1937 with the 1st Cavalry Regiment called on to guard the shipment.
With the outbreak of World War II in Europe, the Army created the Armored Force at Fort Knox, and thousands of soldiers were ordered there and introduced to the tank. For nearly 80 years, the post was known as the “Home of Cavalry and Armor.”
In 2005, the Army decided to move the Armor Center and School to Fort Benning, Georgia, and the Human Resource Command Center of Excellence was established at Fort Knox. In 2013, ROTC Cadet Summer Training was consolidated at Fort Knox. The post hosts the Army’s largest annual training event each summer.
How much gold is stored at Fort Knox?
According to the US Mint, current gold holdings at the US Bullion Depository at Fort Knox are 147.3 million ounces. About half of the Treasury’s stored gold is kept at Fort Knox.
Fort Knox security
The Fort Knox depository is very secure. The structure and content of the facility is known by only a few, and no one person knows all the procedures to open the vault. The information is highly classified and the information which is publicly available is that the facility was built in 1936 using 16,000 cubic feet of granite, 4,200 cubic yards of concrete, 750 tons of reinforcing steel and 670 tons of structural steel. The facility is heavily guarded and has broken its strict policy of not allowing visitors only three times.
Has anyone been allowed to see the gold reserves?
In 1974, the US Mint opened the vaults to a group of journalists and a congressional delegation. The Treasury secretary allowed the visit after rumors that the gold had been removed. This was the first public viewing since President Franklin D. Roosevelt, the only person other than authorized personnel to access the vaults. In 2017, Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin visited Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin and congressional representatives.
Fort Knox in popular lexicon
Fort Knox has also gained it a place in popular culture. In 1952, a Looney Tunes cartoon featured Bugs Bunny and Yosemite Sam digging for gold Fort Knox. Knox has also been featured in movies such as the 1964 James Bond spy thriller “Goldfinger” and the 1981 comedy “Stripes,” which was partially filmed at the post.
(Source: Associated Press)
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