As NASA continues to develop plans for its research park at Moffett Field, the agency faces a possible land use conflict with the U.S. Army, the next-largest user of the site.

In its effort to open up Moffett to college students and private employees at its planned research park, NASA wants the checkpoints at the outer main gates to go away, despite wishes to the contrary from the Army.

"We are seriously thinking about reducing and altering the nature of the security at the outer set of gates," said Steve Zornetzer of NASA Ames. "We want much less restriction to the NASA Research Park."

The research park would build office and research facilities on Moffett Field, bringing together universities and high-tech companies and hopefully leading to a cross-pollenization of ideas.

But for the Army, which houses soldiers and leases buildings in Moffett Field, that plan is hard to accept.

"I would say any facility with a military presence would want to make sure there is a security presence for the families and soldiers that reside there," said Daniel Vargas, chief of staff of Army reserves at Moffett.

A longtime Army officer stationed at Moffett, who asked that his name be withheld, said that after Sept. 11, 2001 the Army was able to impose intensified security at the gate despite NASA's wishes. And now, the Army's contingent there is set to grow at Moffett more than most people realize.

"Army manpower and equipment presence will supersede the presence of NASA," he told the Voice. "A lot of people" say this will happen "by 2010 or 2012," he said.

The Army is planning to move units from all over the state into a major training facility at Moffett's Orion Park, creating a command center, combat support hospital unit and reserve center at Moffett by 2012. The Voice was unable to confirm exactly how many new full time soldiers would be based at Moffett, but most estimates hover around 500, with 700 reservists visiting every weekend.

The Army already has several units at Moffett, including legal services, civil affairs and psychological operations units. There is also the 129th Air National Guard Unit that uses the airfield. The Coast Guard and the Marine Corp also use Moffett for training.

In comparison, NASA has 1,300 employees and 1,200 contractors, but their buildings take up a good deal more space than the Army's.

With NASA currently struggling to pay for Moffett's limited airfield operations, the Army source believes Congress may have to hand the runway, and possibly much of NASA's property, back to the military, even though the Army's aeronautical interest is mostly helicopters.

"I don't think the Army wants to take over the burden of the airfield," he said. "But they would if they had to. What I see from the inside out is that NASA is not an organization built to manage facilities."

Lewis Braxton, director of center operations for NASA Ames, said that if the Army wanted to control the airfield, "We would welcome it."

NASA's ambitious development plans, some of which have been in the works for over 10 years, may never get off the ground, the Army officer said. Inevitably, "Congress is going to look at what's easiest and what's best. The Army is clearly the best tenant for the job."

In response to these statements, NASA's Zornetzer gave this assessment: "Frankly we're not a military base. We host a number of military contingents. They are here as our tenants. This will not revert back to a military base unless there is a crisis."

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