WASHINGTON - Sen. Charles Schumer accused the Bush administration yesterday of using "Stalinist" tactics by requiring overseers to sit in when federal employees are interviewed by an independent commission investigating the Sept. 11 attacks.

"Gatekeepers usually occur in places with totalitarian regimes," the New York Democrat said at a news conference yesterday. "Stalinist Russia was known for that."

Schumer spoke out a day after the commission's leaders said that the overseers were intimidating witnesses and that federal agencies were impeding their probe by responding slowly to requests for information. The 10-member commission was appointed last year by the White House and Congress to investigate all aspects of what led to the attacks and issue a report next May.

Schumer asked for probes by the inspectors general of the Justice and Defense departments, which the commission singled out for criticism in a report Tuesday for not providing records. "We need some kind of independent watchdog" to ensure the departments cooperate with the commission, he said.

Spokesmen for the inspectors general - Glen Fine in Justice and Joseph Schmitz in Defense - said they received Schumer's letters yesterday and would review them shortly. Thomas Kean, the Republican-appointed commission chairman and former New Jersey governor, did not address Schumer's letters when asked yesterday but said he received signals after issuing his report that some federal agencies would pursue the commission's information requests more thoroughly.

Schumer hedged when asked if he was comparing the Bush administration to Stalinist Russia. "We're an open and free country," Schumer said. But he added that having overseers attend interviews "doesn't allow for a free exchange."

White House spokeswoman Claire Buchan said only that the president supports the commission. The Justice Department said agency officials commonly attend the interviews, often to help employees understand how their answers might affect investigations.

At its third public hearing yesterday, the commission heard from experts on terrorism and al-Qaida who criticized U.S. policy toward Arab countries.

"We are resented in no small part because we are seen as using democracy as a tool or weapon against those we don't like, but never against those we do like," said Dennis Ross, who served as a Middle East peace envoy for President Bill Clinton. "We are seen as mouthing the words of democracy but then supporting regimes seen as repressive."

The topic drew criticism from some Sept. 11 families eager for the commission to uncover government failures. "I was hoping for something more substantial," said Lorie Van Auken of New Jersey, whose husband, Kenneth, was killed in the World Trade Center.

Copyright 2003 Newsday

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