Doubts about the contents of Fort Knox and other gold repositories surface quite regularly. While certain views might fall into the conspiracy camp, there is a fair amount of circumstantial data to justify some healthy skepticism. GATA and Congressman Ron Paul are among the most vocal in demanding independent audits.
I would categorize doubts surrounding gold in repositories in three ways:
Missing Gold
Since U.S. gold repositories have had no independent audits for decades and since such an audit appears to be hotly resisted, there have been growing doubts as to how much physical gold is actually there.
Fake Gold
Reports circulated in October of 2009 that the Chinese had received a shipment of gold bars which, when tested using invasive techniques (drilling), were found to consist of gold-plated tungsten. I have not been able to find any mainstream news source to confirm this story. Another story detailing fake bars from the Ethiopian central bank is well-documented here.
Borrowed (lent out) Gold
This may be the more probable situation and would similarly explain the resistance to an independent audit. There has been plenty of speculation that while there is still gold in U.S. repositories, much of it has been lent out in the form of swaps or leases to the likes of JPMorgan Chase. Any such gold would thus be encumbered and not owned by the Treasury or Federal Reserve.
