“Is the gold there?”

As the decades-old question about the legendary Fort Knox makes headlines again, U.S. President Donald Trump is on the hunt for answers.

“We’re actually going to Fort Knox to see if the gold is there, because maybe somebody stole the gold. Tons of gold,” Trump said Monday.

His demand for an audit is echoing widely, with public figures like his cost-cutting czar Elon Musk and Republican Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky joining the chorus in recent weeks.

“Who is confirming that gold wasn’t stolen from Fort Knox?” Musk posted on X on Feb. 17. “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.”

The allegation is not new. Yet despite Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent’s assurance about the gold’s presence and annual audits, suspicion lingers, leading to continued speculation about the state of the treasure at Fort Knox.

Here is what you need to know about Fort Knox and the latest debate about its gold deposits.

What is Fort Knox?

The United States Bullion Depository, often called Fort Knox, is an ultra-secure vault at a World War I-era military installation 56 kilometers (35 miles) south of Kentucky’s largest city, Louisville.

Named after Henry Knox, America’s first secretary of war, Camp Knox was established in 1918 before becoming a permanent military base, rebranded as Fort Knox in the 1930s.

The depository was constructed in 1936 to store the government’s expanding gold reserves that backed the U.S. currency.

In 1937, Fort Knox received its first gold shipment via the U.S. Mail, and by 1941 held a staggering 649.6 million ounces of gold — four times its current holdings.

But Fort Knox wasn’t just about gold. During World War II, it safeguarded America’s founding documents — the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution and the Bill of Rights — and valuable items of other governments, such as a copy of the Magna Carta, England’s 13th-century charter of liberties.

How much gold is there today?

According to the U.S. Mint, the depository today houses 147.3 million ounces of gold, or 5,000 tons. That’s half of the U.S. Treasury’s reserves, with the remainder stored in other secure facilities around the country.

A standard gold bar kept at Fort Knox weighs about 12.4 kilograms (27.5 pounds).

The gold’s book value was set in the 1970s at $42.22 per ounce. At today’s prices, it is worth $428 billion, according to mining.com.

What is known about the vault’s security?

Fort Knox’s legendary security inspired the phrase “secure as Fort Knox.” Built with 16,000 cubic feet of granite, 4,200 cubic yards of concrete, 750 tons of reinforcing steel and 670 tons of structural steel, the depository building is a formidable fortress.

Inside, the two-story vault has 21-inch-thick, concrete-reinforced steel walls. The vault door — blast-, drill- and torch-proof — weighs more than 20 tons and requires 14 turns to open. No single person knows the procedure to open it, former Mint Director Philip Diehl wrote in a 2023 CoinWeek article.

Guarded by the United States Mint Police and the large military force at Fort Knox, the facility is nearly impenetrable. Razor wire and minefields add extra layers of protection, according to Diehl.

Have visitors been allowed inside?

The U.S. Mint calls the depository a “classified facility,” with a strict “no visitors, no exceptions” policy. Even former presidents have been barred from visiting.

But in 1974, it did make an exception, opening the vaults to a group of journalists and members of Congress.

The historic visit, captured on camera and later broadcast on television, came in response to rumors that large amounts of the gold had mysteriously vanished.

Four decades later, former Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin led a delegation of Kentucky politicians to view the vaults in 2017.

“Glad gold is safe!” Mnuchin tweeted after the visit.

Prior to these rare visits, President Franklin D. Roosevelt was the only outsider to enter the vaults, according to the Mint.

Now, pressure is mounting for a new public audit. Conservative radio host Glenn Beck wrote to Trump recently, asking to bring a camera crew to Fort Knox “to document and verify the presence of America’s gold reserves.”

While few doubt the gold’s presence, some industry experts believe opening the vault doors to the public could end the controversy.

“A full, independent audit — potentially even a livestreamed verification — would dispel doubts and reinforce trust in U.S. financial institutions,” mining.com wrote in a commentary.