A spokesman for the Central Intelligence Agency confirms that agents met with then-Governor Jesse Ventura in 1999. But former Minnesota Senator Dave Durenberger, who spent eight years on the Senate Intelligence Committee, says Ventura's account is hard to believe.
In one of his book “Don't Start the Revolution Without Me!”, Ventura claims 23 CIA agents grilled him about his campaign shortly after taking office. George Little, a spokesman for the CIA, confirmed a meeting in an e-mail to Minnesota Public Radio, but he offered few details. Little said that "on occasion CIA officers meet with senior state government officials, as they did in this case, to discuss issues of mutual interest."