Federal authorities charged an ex-CIA officer with leaking confidential information on Monday.  John Kiriakou is accused of dispensing confidential information to journalists, including a Times employee, about interrogation techniques used on Abu Zubaydah, an alleged al Qaeda operative.

An affidavit filed in U.S District Court alleges Kiriakou identified two CIA interrogators in addition to disclosing the technique used to capture Zubaydah.

Kiriakou worked for the CIA for 14 years.  He faces charges of violating the Espionage Act and the Intelligence Identities Protection Act.

According to the Wall Street Journal, the charges stem from a 2008 New York Times article which quoted Kiriakou and other unnamed sources.

“The reporter provided the information to an investigator working for defense attorneys representing so-called high-value detainees at the U.S. prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, the FBI affidavit says. The attorneys filed documents containing names of CIA employees and contractors, and classified details about their detention, the affidavit says, leading to the probe of Mr. Kiriakou.

Months later, 32 pages of photographs of employees of the CIA, FBI and contractors were found in the prison cells of high-value Guantanamo detainees, the FBI affidavit says."

The Justice Department assigned U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald in Chicago to investigate the leak, which at first focused on whether defense attorneys violated the law by providing the photographs to the detainees. In bringing charges against Mr. Kiriakou on Monday, the Justice Department said the attorneys didn't violate the law. No charges were brought against the reporters.”

Kiriakou’s arrest is just one in a pattern beginning to unfold on President Obama’s tenure, according to the New York Times.  

  “The prosecution of Mr. Kiriakou is the sixth criminal case brought under President Obama against current or former government officials accused of providing classified information to the media, more such cases than all previous presidents combined. The crackdown, long sought by the C.I.A. and other agencies, has won the administration some credit with security officials angered by the president’s earlier decision to release classified legal opinions on the agency’s interrogation program.

Officials have said the administration’s campaign against leaks has resulted from a belief among the intelligence agencies and members of both parties in Congress that unauthorized disclosures by government employees holding security clearances were out of control. But Mr. Obama entered office pledging unprecedented transparency for government operations, and his record has drawn fire from civil libertarians and groups supporting whistle-blowers and press freedoms.”

Kiriakou was released on $250,000 bond.