The same building in which scientists and engineers in the 1960s created and built the lunar module that carried men to the moon and back has been converted into a center for homeland security.

The former Northrop Grumman plant is seen at the change of shifts in Bethpage, N.Y., Sept. 22, 1994, when the company announced that it will reduce its Long Island work force by 3,000 people. Now the facility will be used as a Homeland Security Center. (AP Photo/Ed Bailey)

And in a crisis, the new building for the development of homeland security technology can be used as a command post for first responders, both on Long Island and throughout the region.

Business leaders and elected officials formally opened the Morelly Homeland Security Center on Friday in a former Northrup Grumman facility in Bethpage.

“There’s a tremendous sense of history at this location,” said Rep. Peter King, the top Republican on the House Homeland Security Committee. “It guided us into the space age and through it and now, in the 21st Century, it’s absolutely vital for homeland security; it’s vital for the defense of the country.”

The 90,000-square foot center, funded by a $25 million state grant, will house technology firms, including Northrup Grumman, Balfour Technologies and others. It features cutting-edge communications technology from Siemens Enterprise Communications that allows the center to link with Department of Homeland Security, Defense Department and other governmental agencies, locally and nationally.

Nassau County’s Office of Emergency Management will use the center as its permanent headquarters and other OEM agencies in the region will have offices at the facility.

New York City Fire Commissioner Salvatore Cassano said his personnel will join other first responders in the region for training and other exercises at the site.

“The FDNY wants to be part of this, but I hope we never have to use it for an emergency,” said Cassano, who was the keynote speaker at Friday’s ceremony. In tribute to the 343 firefighters killed in the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks, the center’s auditorium was named the “343 Room.”

“For the first time, we are bringing the user community, the various OEMs, together in the same facility with the companies that are developing the technologies,” said Frank Otto, president of the center.

The facility is named for Ken Morelly, former president of Long Island Forum for Technology, who was a driving force behind its creation before his death last year.

Copyright 2010 The Associated Press.