What if the Gold is Gone?

by Kerry Lutz, Financial Survival Network:

The Fort Knox Audit: Trump, Musk, and the Quest for America’s Gold

For decades, the United States Bullion Depository at Fort Knox has stood as an emblem of financial security, a fortress safeguarding a significant portion of the nation’s gold reserves. Housing approximately 147.3 million troy ounces of gold—valued at over $435 billion at today’s market prices—it represents nearly 59% of the U.S. Treasury’s total gold holdings. The remainder is stored at other secure facilities: about 34% at the Denver Mint in Colorado, 5% at the West Point Mint in New York, and a small fraction held at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. Together, these sites account for the U.S.’s 8,133 metric tons of gold, the largest national reserve in the world.

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Yet, beneath Fort Knox’s impenetrable granite walls and steel vaults lies a lingering question: Is the gold really there? This question, long championed by libertarian voices like Senators Rand Paul and his father, former Representative Ron Paul, is finally poised to be answered. Under the leadership of President Donald Trump and tech titan Elon Musk, an unprecedented audit of Fort Knox is on the horizon, set to begin in 2025. As anticipation builds, the stakes couldn’t be higher—not just for the United States, but for the global financial system. What happens if the gold is gone? And what does this mean for the dollar and the fiat currency system? Here, we explore the history, the implications, and the likelihood that the gold remains—or that no one will dare admit otherwise.

A Decades-Long Crusade

The push to audit Fort Knox is not new. It traces its roots back to the skepticism of Ron Paul, a former Texas congressman and staunch advocate for transparency in monetary policy. During his tenure, Ron Paul repeatedly called for a full audit of the nation’s gold reserves, arguing that the American public deserved to know whether the government’s claims matched reality. In 2011, he led a congressional hearing on the matter, noting that no member of Congress had been allowed to view the gold at Fort Knox in nearly 40 years. “The government has for so long refused to provide substantive information on its gold holdings,” he said, “it is not surprising that so much confusion abounds.” His efforts, including the introduction of the “Gold Reserve Transparency Act,” aimed to force a reckoning, but they were met with resistance from a financial establishment comfortable with opacity.

Ron Paul’s mantle was later taken up by his son, Rand Paul, the junior senator from Kentucky—home to Fort Knox itself. Rand Paul has echoed his father’s concerns, emphasizing the need for “more sunlight” on the nation’s reserves. For over a decade, he has sought permission to visit the depository, only to face bureaucratic hurdles. In 2017, during Trump’s first term, then-Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell toured the vaults, reporting that the gold was present. Yet, Rand Paul’s own visit never materialized, leaving him—and many others—unsatisfied. “I think the more transparency, the better,” he told Fox News in February 2025, as momentum for an audit grew. “It brings attention to the fact that gold still has value and implicitly gives value to the dollar.”

Now, with Donald Trump back in the White House and Elon Musk at the helm of the newly formed Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), the Pauls’ decades-long crusade is finally bearing fruit. Musk, known for his disruptive approach to everything from transportation to social media, has seized on the issue with characteristic zeal. “Who is confirming that gold wasn’t stolen from Fort Knox?” he posted on X in February 2025. “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.” Trump, meanwhile, has thrown his weight behind the effort, telling reporters aboard Air Force One, “We’re going to go into Fort Knox to make sure the gold is there. If it isn’t, we’re going to be very upset.” After years of stalled efforts, the audit is set to commence, promising to lift the veil on one of America’s most secretive institutions.

The Historical Context: Why the Doubt?

Fort Knox’s mystique is matched only by the skepticism surrounding it—a skepticism immortalized in popular culture by the 1964 James Bond film Goldfinger. In the movie, the villainous Auric Goldfinger hatches a plan to detonate a dirty bomb inside the depository, rendering the U.S. gold supply radioactive and boosting the value of his own reserves. While Bond thwarts the scheme with characteristic flair, the film cemented Fort Knox in the public imagination as both an impregnable fortress and a tantalizing target. Built in 1936 amid fears of an East Coast attack, the real depository was designed to centralize and protect much of the nation’s gold reserves after President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s 1933 executive order banned private gold ownership. By the 1950s, it held over 20,000 metric tons of gold, a figure that has since dwindled to 8,133 tons across Fort Knox, Denver, West Point, and New York. The last comprehensive audit of Fort Knox occurred in 1953, with partial reviews in 1974—prompted by looting rumors—and 2017, when Mnuchin’s visit quelled some doubts but left others unresolved.

This scarcity of inspections has fueled conspiracy theories far beyond Hollywood fiction. Some speculate that the gold was sold off or swapped with foreign governments, while others suggest it’s been replaced with gold-plated tungsten—not just at Fort Knox, but potentially across the other repositories as well. The lack of regular, transparent audits—contrasted with the Treasury’s claim of annual internal reviews—has only deepened the mistrust. Rand Paul has pointed out that even these internal audits provide “the bare minimum of information,” leaving room for doubt. Musk’s call for a “live video walkthrough” reflects a public hunger for definitive proof, a sentiment Trump has amplified with his flair for dramatic pronouncements.

What If the Gold Is Gone?

The implications of a Fort Knox audit revealing missing gold are staggering—more explosive than any plot Goldfinger could devise. The U.S. dollar, though no longer directly tied to the gold standard since 1971, retains an implicit link to the metal. Central banks worldwide hold gold as a hedge against currency volatility, and the U.S.’s 8,133 tons—more than twice Germany’s reserves—bolster confidence in the dollar as the world’s reserve currency. If the gold at Fort Knox, valued at $435 billion on the open market (though listed at a mere $6 billion on government books at $42.22 per ounce), were found to be absent, the fallout would be immediate and profound, with ripple effects potentially reaching Denver, West Point, and New York.

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