WASHINGTON, DC–After 15 years of undercover work, the Federal Bureau of Investigation announced Monday that it is discontinuing its surveillance of mid-’80s pop star Rockwell.<\/p>\n
“We have finally determined to our satisfaction that Rockwell poses no significant threat to national security,” FBI director Louis Freeh told reporters at a press conference Monday. “As a result, we are confident that he no longer needs watching.”<\/p>\n
Rockwell, who since 1983 has endured hidden-camera observations, phone-tappings and stakeouts at the hands of FBI agents, said he is “not mollified” by the announcement.<\/p>\n
“All I ever wanted was to be left alone, in my average home,” the former Motown recording artist told reporters. “But for a decade and a half, the FBI made me feel like I was in the twilight zone. Nothing can ever give me back those years.”<\/p>\n
Rockwell, long derided for what was widely seen as paranoid delusion on his part, said he is owed an apology from “a great many individuals.”<\/p>\n
“People laughed at me when I told them I was being watched. They laughed when I told them I was afraid to wash my hair because I might open my eyes and find someone standing there,” said Rockwell, speaking in his trademark dandified, British-accented, quasi-rap style. “But now, the world finally knows that my fears were justified all along.”<\/p>\n
The FBI’s Rockwell-surveillance program reached its peak in 1986, when $22 million in federal funds was allocated for the observation of the singer. In total, more than $150 million has been spent on Rockwell-observation since 1983.<\/p>\n
Despite his lingering resentment and anger over the years spent under observation, Rockwell said he is excited about the future and looking forward to finally enjoying a normal existence.<\/p>\n
“I’m just an average man with an average life,” said Rockwell, backed by a pulsating synthesizer track. “But for years, I felt like I had no privacy. I felt like people were playing tricks on me. Thankfully, though, I am finally vindicated. My suspicions were correct all along.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
WASHINGTON, DC–After 15 years of undercover work, the Federal Bureau of Investigation announced Monday that it is discontinuing its surveillance of mid-’80s pop star Rockwell. “We have finally determined to our satisfaction that Rockwell poses no significant threat to national security,” FBI director Louis Freeh told reporters at a press conference Monday. “As a result, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_s2mail":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-75","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-mediaspotlight"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/emails.paragonis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/emails.paragonis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/emails.paragonis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emails.paragonis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emails.paragonis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=75"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/emails.paragonis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":77,"href":"https:\/\/emails.paragonis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75\/revisions\/77"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/emails.paragonis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=75"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emails.paragonis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=75"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emails.paragonis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=75"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}