President Donald Trump shared last week that he will be sending tech billionaire Elon Musk to Fort Knox, the iconic depository for the nation’s gold reserves, to ensure that the gold is still there.
If Musk carries out the inspection, it will be just the fourth time the reserves were opened to someone who isn’t authorized personnel.
The statement from Trump comes as he continues to tap Musk for special projects, as they both look to shrink the size of the government to cut federal spending deemed to be unnecessary.
Fort Knox, based in Kentucky, holds the United States Bullion Depository and has stored precious gold reserves for the country since its construction in 1937. It not only protects the nation’s gold, but Fort Knox is also used as the Army’s human resource command center and it hosts the army’s largest annual training.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent shared that an audit is conducted annually by authorized personnel and that “all the gold is present and accounted for.”
Still, Trump shared during a speech with Republican governors on Thursday evening that an inspection was going to be carried out.
“We’re going to open up the the doors. We’re going to inspect Fort Knox,” Trump said. “I don’t want to open it, and the cupboards are bare.”
Fort Knox encompasses 109,000 acres and is so large it technically sits in three Kentucky counties, including Bullitt, Hardin, and Mead.
If Musk does inspect the U.S. gold supply at Fort Knox, he will be one of only a handful of people to have done so, with the list including only three official visits since it was constructed.
On that list is former President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1943, who was the first and only person to see inside the vaults until 1974, when the U.S. Mint opened the doors to members of Congress and some journalists.
In 2017, the doors were opened again to Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin, who inspected the vaults with a congressional delegation and the Gov. of Kentucky, Matt Bevin.
Bessent has said that he would give a tour to any member of Congress who wanted to inspect the vaults and the nation’s gold supply.
Currently, the U.S. Mint says the U.S. Bullion Depository at Fort Knox contains 147.3 million ounces of gold. That amount is about half of the Treasury Department’s stored gold. The gold’s book value is $42.22 per ounce.
However, don’t get your hopes up if you’re thinking about carrying out an “Oceans 11” type of heist at Fort Knox, as the base is known for being impenetrable.
When it was constructed in 1936, the builders used 16,000 cubic feet of granite, 4,200 cubic yards of concrete, 750 tons of reinforced steel, and 670 tons of structural steel to construct it. The fort is among the most heavily guarded sites in the country.