What’s hidden behind the doors of the most secure depository in the United States?
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Gold is not only a shiny precious metal, but also an important financial asset. Its reserves are stored by central banks around the world. The goal is to increase the economic sustainability of the state.
The United States of America accumulated the largest reserves of the precious metal — almost 70 percent of the world’s gold and forex reserves. Half of the US gold reserves are stored in the Fort Knox vault. If you’ve seen the James Bond movie Goldfinger, you probably already know what it’s all about. According to the plot of the film, the building is captured by criminals. However, in real life, it is virtually impossible to enter the depository without special permission. Even if you are James Bond.
The depository is located in the military camp of Fort Knox near the US Army base in Kentucky. It is administered by the Department of the Treasury, in other words, the US Department of the Treasury.
The history of Fort Knox began in 1933. It was then that US President Franklin Roosevelt, at the height of the Great Depression, issued an executive order banning the private ownership of gold bars, gold coins or gold certificates. And he obliged the population to sell the precious metal to the Federal Reserve System. However, most of the gold that fueled the rise in gold reserves came from abroad. From that moment on, the question of safe storage of the precious metal arose: it was approached very responsibly.
The area between the fences and the concrete walls of the depository building, lined with granite, is mined and covered with rings of barbed wire. There are security rooms at each of the four corners. The territory is monitored by high-resolution night surveillance cameras and microphones.
The depository doors are fire and drill resistant. They weigh about 18 tons and are 53 centimeters or 21 inches thick. It is believed that they cannot be hacked even with the most powerful explosives. The doors are equipped with an electronic lock with a timer: in order to open them, depository employees must simultaneously dial separate parts of the code. No one knows this code in its entirety.
Fort Knox currently holds more than 147 million ounces in gold bars, or more than half of the U.S. gold reserves.
Interesting fact: the largest amount of gold in Fort Knox was during World War II — almost 650 million troy ounces.
In addition to the gold bars, the vault contains ten 1933 Double Eagle twenty-dollar coins, a 1974 aluminum cent, and twelve gold so called Sacagawea dollars.
The US government takes protecting its own gold reserves very seriously. And this is quite understandable. After all, everyone knows the value of the noble metal and its importance for the economy of any state.
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