DOGE scrutinises famous US fort as billionaire duo hunts gold bars

It’s been a wild rollercoaster ride in the month since Donald Trump reclaimed the White House – and the US president has now said that he and Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) would find out if Fort Knox’s* famous gold bars have gone missing as part of their ongoing review of US federal assets* and spending.

“We’re going to go into Fort Knox to make sure the gold is there. You know that? We’re going to go into Fort Knox,” Mr Trump told reporters on Air Force One*.

“We do want to look. I mean, we hope everything’s fine with Fort Knox, but we’re gonna go to Fort Knox, the fabled* Fort Knox, and make sure the gold is there,” Mr Trump said.

“If the gold isn’t there, we’re gonna be very upset.”

The Fort Knox Bullion* Depository’s vaults in north-central Kentucky contain 147.3 million ounces of gold — more than half of the US Treasury Department’s gold reserves, according to officials.

If that accounting is correct, the repository* should have the equivalent of nearly 370,000 standard-sized gold bars.

Mr Musk, the CEO of SpaceX and Tesla and owner of X, was travelling aboard the presidential jet with Mr Trump as he returned to Washington from a speech to Saudi investors in Miami Beach, but did not address reporters in the plane’s rear press cabin.

Mr Trump indicated he was open to another Mr Musk idea, saying he was considering giving taxpayers a 20 per cent dividend after DOGE completes its work, which aims to trim $1 trillion (A$1.6 trillion) in annual expenses.

The world’s richest man is spearheading* Mr Trump’s attempt to dramatically downsize the federal bureaucracy and had for days floated the possibility that Fort Knox might not actually hold as much gold as authorities claimed.

“Who is confirming that gold wasn’t stolen from Fort Knox?” the DOGE leader tweeted earlier in the week. “Maybe it’s there, maybe it’s not.”

Mr Musk also posted: “It would be cool to do a live video walk-through of Fort Knox!”

Fort Knox has held much of America’s gold reserves since 1937, with most of the public aware of the stash thanks to the plot of the 1964 James Bond film Goldfinger.

Some Republicans have objected to the strict secrecy of the facility.

“As a US senator, I’ve tried repeatedly to get into Fort Knox,” Republican Senator Mike Lee wrote on X.

“Fort Knox: ‘You can’t come to Fort Knox.’ Me: ‘Why?’ Fort Knox: ‘It’s a military installation.’ Me: ‘I’m a senator; I go to military bases all the time.’ Fort Knox: ‘You still can’t come. Because, you can’t’.”

Mr Lee’s former colleague, Bob Menendez, earned the nickname “Gold Bar Bob” when authorities found 13 of them in his home during a 2022 corruption raid. He is scheduled to begin an 11-year prison term on June 6 after being convicted of trading favours for foreign governments and businessmen in exchange for cash, bullion and a luxury car, among other items.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has tried to hose down speculation about Fort Knox and its big ticket treasure.

“We do an audit* every year,” Mr Bessent said. “All the gold is present and accounted for.”

President Trump has generated a non-stop stream of jaw-dropping headlines since his January 20 inauguration*, most recently including calling Ukraine’s democratically elected President Volodymyr Zelenskyy a “dictator*” while also falsely accusing him of starting the war begun by Russian President Vladimir Putin.

POLL

GLOSSARY

• Fort Knox: military reservation in Kentucky, USA
• assets: things of financial value, like possessions or property
• Air Force One: the presidential plane, any Air Force aircraft carrying the American President
• fabled: famous, legendary, well known, storied
• bullion: rare metal such as gold or silver, often in the form of thick blocks, that is bought and sold in large quantities as a commodity or investment
• repository: a place where things are stored and can be found
• spearheading: leading, heading up, taking charge of something
• audit: an official examination of financial accounts
• inauguration: the act of officially putting someone into an important position
• dictator: a leader who has complete power in a country and has not been elected by the people

EXTRA READING

Treasure found after 30 year hunt

Second gold rush on Oz horizon

Penny dropped by Trump cost cut

QUICK QUIZ

1. How many ounces of gold are held at Fort Knox?
2. The gold represents what proportion of the US Treasury Department’s gold reserves?
3. The military reservation was made famous by which fictional spy in which film?
4. How much money is Elon Musk’s DOGE aiming to trim from the US federal budget?
5. When was Donald Trump inaugurated?

LISTEN TO THIS STORY

CLASSROOM ACTIVITIES
1. A dramatic TV news report
Imagine just how big a news story it will be if investigations find that all of Fort Knox’s gold is missing!

Work in a small group to write and present a dramatic news report breaking this shocking news. Think about the possible reactions and ramifications and include these in your report.

Time: allow 40 minutes to complete this activity
Curriculum Links: English, Drama

2. Extension
Draw a map of or describe in words your own “high security facility” designed for housing Australia’s most prized and valuable possessions. Your facility should have a minimum of 10 security measures to help keep items safe.

Time: allow 30 minutes to complete this activity
Curriculum Links: English, Design and Technologies

VCOP ACTIVITY
Read this!
A headline on an article – or a title on your text – should capture the attention of the audience, telling them to read this now. So choosing the perfect words for a headline or title is very important.

Create three new headlines for the events that took place in this article. Remember, what you write and how you write it will set the pace for the whole text, so make sure it matches.

Read out your headlines to a partner and discuss what the article will be about based on the headline you created. Discuss the tone and mood you set in just your few, short words. Does it do the article justice? Will it capture the audience’s attention the way you hoped? Would you want to read more?

Consider how a headline or title is similar to using short, sharp sentences throughout your text. They can be just as important as complex ones. Go through the last text you wrote and highlight any short, sharp sentences that capture the audience.