A former US official has claimed that the government secretly diverted $21 trillion in taxpayer funds between 1998 and 2015 to build a vast underground network of bunkers for the elite and high-ranking officials to survive a potential “near-extinction event”.

Catherine Austin Fitts, who served as assistant secretary of Housing and Urban Development for Housing under then President George HW Bush, made the startling allegation during an episode of “The Tucker Carlson Show,” hosted by former Fox News anchor Tucker Carlson.

She stated that between fiscal year 1998 and fiscal year 2015, undocumented adjustments totalling $21 trillion were made, with public funds being used to build an extensive network of underground facilities.

According to her, the project includes approximately 170 bases, some of which are located beneath the ocean and are connected by a sophisticated transportation network.

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“We systematically went through and tried to estimate ... how many underground bases, both underground in the United States, but also underground under the ocean around the United States,” she said. “And our estimate was 170 with a transportation network connecting them.”

While underground bunkers maintained by the US government are not unheard of—such as Mount Weather in Virginia, Cheyenne Mountain in Colorado, and Raven Rock in Pennsylvania—Fitts claimed that the actual scale of underground infrastructure is far greater than officially acknowledged.

She suggested that the hidden facilities may not only serve as shelters for catastrophic events but could also support a “secret space programme” or other undisclosed operations.

However, she did not provide concrete evidence or detailed information regarding the size, scope, or access protocols of the alleged network. Nor did she name any elite individuals who might benefit from the supposed infrastructure.

Carlson expressed doubt during the podcast, commenting that he had believed such facilities were limited to Washington, DC and designed for emergencies such as nuclear war.

However, Fitts replied, “Some of it is. It’s preparation for catastrophe.”

While her claims have sparked significant attention online, no independent verification has emerged to support the existence of such an expansive and secretive system.

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Separately, USA Today previously reported that Mount Weather, the underground facility where congressional leaders were taken during the 9/11 attacks, is currently undergoing renovations. However, the purpose of those upgrades remains classified.

Fitts said she spent years investigating financial discrepancies in government accounts, leading her to this controversial conclusion about the missing trillions.