Posted on 02/16/2025 10:33:54 AM PST by RandFan
BREAKING: Senator Rand Paul calls for auditing Fort Knox to make sure the 4,580 tons of US gold is there.
@RandPaul
Nope. Let’s do it.
(Excerpt) Read more at x.com ...
Nonsense.
Same rumors go around every couple decades, and there’s a big ‘visit’ by some functionary, and it’s still sitting there, doing nothing.
A full assay audit has not been completed since the 1950’s. Do NOT confuse an audit with a full assay audit, matching serial numbers, drilling every other 100th bar and fire assaying drillings, etc….this article covers all the Congressional investigations that have been buried.
…….. The Missing Gold Shipment
In the same document, Durell referred to a list of gold shipments from Fort Knox he had received from the G.A.O.s Hyman Krieger ten days earlier. Durell challenged Mint Director, Mary Brooks as to whether or not these newly provided records of gold shipments were accurate.
Durell knew that someone had either made a huge mistake, or was lying. By searching the files of the Louisville, Kentucky newspapers, he found at least one shipment consisting of four tractor trailer loads which had left Fort Knox on January 20, 1965 which was not included in the April 11, 1975 tally. According to a letter written to Sen. William Proxmire several years later, Durell stated:
This shipment consisted of 1,762,381 ounces, which at todays market of $650/ounce would be worth $1.145 billion.
Two months later, Mint Director Brooks, in a letter dated June 19, 1975, grudgingly acknowledged to Durells Virginia Congressman, J. Kenneth Robinson, the omission of one shipment of gold from Fort Knox. As Durell noted later, Mrs. Brooks gave no reason why it was omitted from the Treasurys tally. Durell suggested a Congressional investigation. Nothing was done.
How many more unlisted shipments were there? Over sixteen years later, no one knows. Incredibly, there has been no investigation. At best, this shows a shocking degree of carelessness. Reasonable observers would have to conclude that an unaccounted shipment of 1.7 million ounces of gold from Fort Knox is at least a major error, if not a criminal act, and, considering the amount of money involved, and the fact that it put the entire security of the U.S. gold reserve in doubt, it is certainly deserving of congressional scrutiny.
The Central Core Controversy
About a year after the Mary Brooks peek inside Fort Knox, the former commanding general of the facility came forward and asked why the media hadnt been shown the main storage room for the gold, something he called the central core vault. From 1956 to 1959, the Commanding General of Fort Knox was Lt. General John L. Ryan, Jr. In addition, Gen. Ryan had been stationed at the bullion depository twice earlier, initially, just shortly after its completion in 1937. On November 16, 1975, he wrote a letter confirming the existence of the central core vault, as he had earlier testified before the congressional committee of Representative Otis Pike.
The second page of General Ryans letter continued as follows:
On the vault door were two combination locks, two key-operated locks, and a timing mechanism that prevented opening the door except at preset days and hours. The Agent-in-Charge knew one combination and had one key; his Deputy knew the other combination and held the other key. I was told that the key to the timing mechanism was kept in Washington....
I departed Fort Knox in July 1942, and returned in January 1952 for duty as Chief of Staff. In the spring of 1953 I believe but it could have been later, Mr. Van Horn received secret instructions to conduct a 100% inventory of the bullion. Specialists to check serial numbers, take plug samples for assay, weigh the bricks etcetera, would be sent in but hiring men to move the gold bricks from the vault up to the receiving room, then back into the vault was up to the Agent-in-Charge.
Upon approval of the Commanding General, a number of selected non-commissioned officers were put on furlough status to become temporary Treasury Department employees to perform the labor involved in moving the gold bricks. I was in the Depository several times during this inventory and know that the bullion was stored in the vault.
Mr. Van Horn told me that during WWII many irreplaceable documents such as the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution and amendments had been secured in the cell-like compartments surrounding the vault. At the moment, our war reserve of rare drugs were stored there in the compartments.
I departed Fort Knox in November 1954 and returned in May 1956 as Commanding General. Mr. Van Horn had retired or died, I cannot recall which; his Deputy, Mr. Al Evans, was Agent-in-Charge. Although I was in the depository on a few occasions, I was not in the Depository when the vault was open. I departed Fort Knox in May 1959. It is my firm belief that until that time, May 1959, the bullion was stored in the vault. Signed, John L. Ryan, Jr.
General Ryan then drew a rough map of the layout of the depository with its huge subterranean central core vault clearly indicated as Gold Vault. As shown, the central core that takes up about 75% of the floor space of the basement level is surrounded by a passageway, and the thirteen smaller vaults.
Coming a full year after the 1974 tour of the depository, and subsequent Treasury denials of the existence of a central core vault, General Ryans map constituted damning evidence which the government has failed to adequately address to this day. If such a central core vault existed, why wasnt it shown to congressmen and reporters, and why has Treasury subsequently denied its existence so steadfastly? Wild speculations abound, but the truth probably is that the government didnt know how they would explain why the huge central core vault, measuring about 65-by-80 feet, was completely empty.
Before Ed Durells death, he was attempting to get verification from a retired officer named Major Stanley Tatom who claimed to have designed and overseen construction of the central core vault at Fort Knox. It is hoped that by the publication of General Ryans hand drawn map of the ground floor of the Fort Knox Gold Repository, with the basement features, including the central core vault which he called the Gold Vault” — in this book, Major Tatoms relatives will come forward with this documentation.
The Treasury Department responded very slowly to written inquiries concerning the central core vault matter, even when those inquiries were made on this authors behalf by his congressional representatives. A letter from the Assistant Secretary of the Treasury, Gene E. Godley, to Congressman Joe Fisher, dated December 21, 1979 stated that questions concerning the illegal removal of gold from Fort Knox had:
been thoroughly and repeatedly investigated and are false and irresponsible.”
Mr. Godley was no doubt telling the truth. After many years of investigation, it now appears that the gold was shipped out of Fort Knox legally, as part of something called the London Gold Pool. But it was certainly done without the full knowledge of, or understanding by the general public, and the result though technically legal was no less a crime against the people of the United States.
Mr. Godley went on to say:
Allegations relating to a so-called central core vault at Fort Knox are grossly inaccurate. In fact we do not and find no record that we ever did refer to any part of the depository by that name.... You may be assured, and assure your constituent, that all the United States gold stock, which currently totals 263.1 million ounces, is intact and reflected in our official records.
I hope this information will be helpful to Mr. Still.
Note that Mr. Godley didnt deny the existence of the central core vault he denies referring to any part of the depository by that name. I pointed this out to Congressman Fisher and enclosed General Ryans letter and drawing. On March 21, 1980, Mr. Godley responded again:
There have been a number of unsubstantiated allegations that there is a central core vault at Fort Knox which was constructed to house the gold supply and is now empty. In fact, there is no central core vault....
It is interesting that Mr. Godley kept repeating that there was no vault called exactly the central core vault. General Ryan didnt call it that, either, in his drawing. He called it simply the gold vault. Perhaps Mr. Godley was merely playing with words, and promoting half-truths. I never could get the Treasury Department to address the existence of a basement-level vault as per General Ryans drawing. Furthermore, if these allegations of a central core were so grossly inaccurate, as Mr. Godley put it, why didnt he attack General Ryans credibility? One must assume that he couldnt. Ryan was a real person. He was who he said he was, and his testimony stands inviolable.
1977: Another Peek Into Fort Knox
With the inauguration of President Jimmy Carter, in 1977, Durell and other skeptics hoped the question of why there had been no credible independent audit of gold at Fort Knox would finally be addressed. But his hopes were dashed when, on March 8, 1977, Jerry H. Nisenson, Deputy Director for Gold Market Activities at the Treasurys Office of Foreign Exchange Operations wrote a letter justifying the ongoing ten-year audit:
A continuing audit of all United States-owned gold is currently in progress. These audits are being conducted on a cyclical basis because of the enormous quantity of gold to be physically handled and the related costs. The Government personnel conducting these audits are highly qualified and experienced in the various phases of handling bullion. To date, the audits have accounted for over 20 percent of the total U.S. gold stock. Representatives of the General Accounting Office, an organ of the Congress and completely independent of the executive branch, observed several of the audits and expressed no objection to the procedures followed. Thus, there is simply no justifiable reason to secure the services of a private accounting firm.
Pressure on the government from Durell and others forced yet another, even briefer, peek into the Depository. On July 28, 1977, Treasury Secretary Blumenthal spent less than two hours there. He was shown only two vaults and obviously had no intention of being objective.
After his inspection, he drove directly to Louisville to deliver a speech about tax reform to the citys Chamber of Commerce. He duly reported that all was well at the nations gold depository with the opening of his speech.
If I appear a bit dazzled, I hope youll forgive me. Ive just been down the road to inspect the nations gold stock at Fort Knox. First, I can report its still there.
Interestingly, his remarks were written in Washington, and even distributed to the press at least one day before the trip.
1978-79: The NY Assay Office Scandal
The New York Assay Office scandal broke on December 21, 1978 when several newspapers published reports that more than 433 pounds of gold were missing from the assay office, and that employees had been implicated in the theft.
The New York Assay Office was an important transit point for Americas gold stock. Of the 480,000,000 ounces of pure gold which was lost between 1957 and 1972, the government acknowledged that 233,723,565 ounces of it was shipped from Fort Knox to New York 90% to the U.S. Assay Office, and the rest to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. 491 Just where the other 246,276,435 ounces of pure gold went remain unexplained.
Two days before the story broke, Deputy Treasury Secretary Robert Carswell wrote to Senate Banking Committee Chairman William Proxmire, referring to his initial investigation of the assay office irregularities and stating:
The full truth may never be known because of the inadequate records kept over the years.
Carswell further commented that much of the gold could have been lost in the normal refining process. However, an employee quoted in the January 3, 1979 Staten Island Advance states contemptuously, Considering how bad security was at the office, thats ridiculous. Other employees quoted charged that supervisory personnel were guilty of flagrant abuses in bookkeeping.
When the Treasury closed its investigation on August 7, 1979, the Wall Street Journal commented: The great U.S. Treasury missing gold case is closed but it isnt solved.
Keep in mind, this was the office through which the largest treasure in gold in the history of the world had just passed. Apparently it did so with the worlds sloppiest bookkeeping procedures, although Treasury tried to brush that fact aside by labeling it inadequate record keeping.
1973-74: The Firestone Gold Scand……..
Ya got me. It’s zeds bike, zeds dead, like the gold in fort knox.
Now we’re talking.
“It’s been gone for years and it aint coming back”
Imagine how disappointed poor Mr. Goldfinger would have been..
I think it’s a good idea, but woe betide us if it’s not what it should be.
1. Count the bars.
2. Random sample every 100th bar for purity and weight. That would be 360 samples. This could be done easily in just a few weeks or less depending on the size of the team. You could do it on site with a mass spectrogram. It does not lie. Also quick and dirty is the specific gravity of the bar. If the specific gravity is not 19.32 it is adultrated.
3. Problem solved or perhaps it will reveal a hell of a problem.
4. If it reveals a hell of a problem, sample every damn bar there.
I believe that Bill Clinton did begin the sale of US Gold bullion from Fort Knox. The sale propped up the printed Dollar. Competition from South Africa caused that country to be destroyed.
I think it is empty. It might be best to NOT let the world know.
Answering this question truthfully will get a lot of folks killed.
This is like dogs chasing a postal truck.
OK—you catch them.
Now what?
Lol.
There is more gold under Bodie, CA (ghost town) than in Ft. Knox. Enviro weenies wont let them mine there.
The Paul family has always had their eyes on gold. L O L.
Thanks for posting.
James Bond and Auric Goldfinger were the last ones to do an Audit of Fort Knox
The world no longer operates on the gold standard. Just the same, gold has value.
If all the gold is there that should be there, we are talking about a considerable value. Some of it could be sold to help the USG retire the national debt. You wouldn’t sell it all at once as the price of gold would plumet.
50 years ago
Since the late 1960s people have said there is NO GOLD there. When last opened a vault showed lots of GOLD! But was it Gold or just gold plated lead and Tungsten?
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