Human rights and open government advocates on Tuesday harshly criticized the Obama administration over the criminal charges brought against an ex-CIA officer for allegedly leaking to reporters the names of two agency operatives involved in the brutal interrogation of terrorism detainees.

John Kiriakou, 47, the CIA’s former director of counterterrorism operations in Pakistan, was arraigned in federal court in Virginia on Monday on charges of espionage, lying to investigators and disclosing the identity of a covert operative. He was released on bond…

Kiriakou, of Arlington, Va., is the sixth government official charged with espionage by the Obama administration for leaking classified information to reporters. The espionage law, enacted in 1917, was used only three times prior to Obama’s election to prosecute leaks to the media.

Jesselyn Radack, an attorney with the Government Accountability Project, which defends whistle-blowers, called Kiriakou’s arrest the most recent example of a broader administration crackdown against federal officials who disclose illegal, abusive or wasteful government activity.

Scumbag Obama: gets told about illegal torture program, gives immunity to all the people who tortured, prosecutes whistle-blower. A vote for Obama in 2012 is a vote for increased prosecutions under the Espionage Act.