One of the most sensitive secrets protected by the Washington establishment—more so than its surveillance programs, its nuclear arsenal, or even Area 51—is the massive cache of gold reserves held at the federal depository in Fort Knox, Kentucky.
Locked Up Tighter Than Fort Knox
According to official statistics, the United States holds far and away the largest gold reserves of any sovereign nation of supranational institution. The government supposedly maintains over 8,100 metric tonnes of the yellow metal in its reserves, spread out across three main bullion depositories. (For reference, the second-largest gold reserves owned by Germany total less than half of the U.S. stockpile.)
In addition to facilities in West Point, New York and Denver, Colorado, the Fort Knox facility—known as the U.S. Bullion Depository—stands out for its reputation as an impenetrable fortress. More than half of the total reserves—4,582.95 tonnes, or 147,341,870.463 fine troy ounces of gold—are kept at Fort Knox, while more than 1,000 tonnes are stored at West Point and Denver each.
Cleverly located at the intersection of Gold Vault Road and Bullion Boulevard, the bullion depository at Fort Knox was constructed and housing the growing government stock of gold by 1937. Much of this newfound gold came into the government coffers as a result of President Franklin Roosevelt’s executive order confiscating privately held gold in 1933. Following the Second World War, with the United States emerging as the lone remaining superpower, the country’s gold holdings reached as high as 20,000 tonnes!
The Fort Knox facility’s reputation is thanks to its world-renowned system of security measures, from countless cameras to U.S. Mint Police guards, military helicopters, land mines, fences of barbed and electric wire, and a virtually impregnable vault door. At various times, it has been used to store other valuable items, such as the Declaration of Independence, one of the four copies of the Magna Carta, or the crown jewels of foreign nations.
Given all the protection, it seems obvious that billions of dollars worth of gold—or something—indeed resides at Fort Knox. However, there has been considerable doubt over the years as to whether the depository actually held any gold. This is largely due to a well-circulated rumor during the 1970s that the vaults had been emptied by elites in banking in government, either leased out or confiscated. If you subscribe to this theory, the incredible amount of protection at the U.S. Bullion Depository is for little more than a pile of IOUs.
Although this rumor or theory is simply that, the remarkably high security that guards the U.S. gold reserves has understandably drawn the curiosity of the investigative press. The speculation has also been amplified by the degree of secrecy surrounding the reserves: Since the depository opened seven decades ago, the only time any member of the public has been permitted inside the facility was when members of the media were (however briefly) invited in on September 23rd, 1974. No photographs were allowed, of course.
Koos is in the company of monetary scholar Jim Rickards and former U.S. Representative Ron Paul in publicly campaigning for more transparency in the financial system and the gold market. This effort to audit the Fort Knox gold, the Federal Reserve, and its policies toward gold is now carried on by the younger Paul, Rand, who currently serves as a U.S. Senator from Kentucky—where Fort Knox is located.
Source: Gainsville News
