President Barack Obama signed into law legislation that rolls back disclosure requirements on Congressional staffers and low-level executive branch officials.

The White House announced Monday Obama signed the legislation, which activists slammed as an "epic failure." It rolled back provisions of the STOCK Act, which aims to curb trading by government officials on information they obtain through their jobs. Former Central Intelligence Agency Director Michael Hayden and several other national security officials had expressed concern the disclosures could put diplomatic and intelligence personnel at risk.

Passed last April, the STOCK Act explicitly said members of Congress and their staffs are not exempt from the prohibition of insider trading placed on everyone else.

WSJ's Washington Wire reported Friday under the legislation, only the president, vice president, members and candidates for Congress and most Senate-confirmed presidential appointees would have to submit their stock trades to a searchable online database.

Congressional and executive-branch staff would still be required to report their stock trades publicly but people seeking the information would have to request it in person, WashWire noted.

"Insider trading by members of Congress and federal employees is still prohibited, but the ability of watchdog groups to verify that Congress is following its own rules is severely limited," said the Center for Responsive Politics, a group that tracks campaign spending, in a blog post. "This is not true disclosure."

Write to Samuel Rubenfeld at Samuel.Rubenfeld@dowjones.com. Follow him on Twitter at @srubenfeld.