COLONIE — The New York National Guard on Thursday showed off a new command center that Maj. Gen. Joseph Taluto said was similar to one he used while commanding the 42nd Infantry Division in Iraq.

The federally funded, $280,000 Joint Operations Center is part of a $6.24 million addition to the state Division of Military and Naval Affairs headquarters on Old Niskayuna Road near Albany International Airport. The two-story, 29,000-square-foot addition also will provide space for a military police company currently stationed in the Schenectady Armory and other, smaller detachments and offices, said Guard spokesman Eric Durr. Construction was started in November 2006 and is almost complete, he said.

Taluto, the state’s adjutant general and Guard commander, said the new center will help speed deployments during emergencies, whether for a storm or a terrorist attack. It will be staffed by at least one person at all times and has seats at computer terminals for 19 people, with large video screens showing TV news channels and state information networks. Taluto said GPS devices can be used to track soldiers and vehicles, showing where they are on the screens in the command center.

The New York Guard takes direction from the State Emergency Management Office under Gov. Eliot Spitzer, the state commander in chief. Asked what would happen in an extreme emergency, such as a nuclear attack, Taluto said a response could be federalized and come under the command of the U.S. president. But that did not happen after the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, Durr said.

Sgt. Amy Cerrone, who served with Taluto in Iraq for 10 months in 2005, said the command center is similar to one used there in Tikrit. That one, said Taluto, was in the ballroom of a former presidential palace of Saddam Hussein.

Cerrone said she compiles a weekly report on potential terrorist activity, weather events and other items of interest to the Guard. Whether as a matter of routine or in a crisis, she said, both open sources and government networks are used to get information.

Maj. Bob Stabb said there are “wake-up criteria” that would get him and others to come in to the command center in the middle of the night, citing a report of an unexplained explosion in the state as an example.

The new command center has been operational for a month. Previously, there was a smaller center at the same location, using older equipment and without the one big room where all functions can be smoothly integrated, Taluto said.

In addition to the command center, several Guard units, the statewide headquarters and the state Division of Military and Naval Affairs are at the Old Niskayuna Road facility.