Crusader Background The Army focused on building the XM 2001 Crusader self-propelled howitzer from 1987 to 2002 to improve its artillery capabilities self-propelled 155 mm (Bruner and Bowman, 2002, p. 1). Since the development of the Crusader in the late 1980s, the system was intended to combat the artillery firepower of the Soviet Union. Among the tasks the weapons system would have accomplished were "direct-fire maneuver forces, such as tanks and infantry, with immediate, intense, and indirect fires at a distance" (Bruner and Bowman, 2002, p. 1). The Army initially planned to equip its units with 1,138 Crusaders beginning in fiscal year 2008 (Bruner & Bowman, 2002, p. 2). The program was revised in 1999 to build 480 vehicles at a total cost of $11 billion. United Defense, headquartered in Fridley, Minnesota, is believed to have built the Crusader. United Defense would have used a newly constructed factory in Oklahoma near the Army's field artillery headquarters at Fort Sill, Oklahoma. Additionally, United Defense reportedly used contractors in the states of California, Michigan, New Mexico, Pennsylvania, Vermont, and Virginia to produce the Crusader (Bruner and Bowman, 2002, p. 2) . The Crusader also reportedly created jobs in the state of Massachusetts and the District of Columbia. The states of California, Massachusetts, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Virginia are considered politically powerful states or swing states. Furthermore, the production of military equipment is becoming a very parochial issue. Michigan is the home state of Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Carl Levin, and California has two senior senators, Barbara Boxer and Dianne Feinstein. Minnesota and Virginia then had the Senate Armed Services Committee...... middle of paper ......n done through the chain of command. As previously noted, Rumsfeld's willingness to bypass military leadership and his suggestion to General Shelton that military advice to the president should go through him demonstrated to military and career civilians that Rumsfeld was not interested in their input. This is why, to make their point, it was necessary to go around Rumsfeld. The talking points memo was a way to get around Rumsfeld. It is likely that career military and civilian leaders felt they had to ignore the chain of command to have their views heard by Congress. However, Congress knew that the military did not agree with the military's civilian leadership. Shinseki had already testified before Congress that he believed the military needed the crusader. Both Rumsfeld and military leaders are responsible for the talking points controversy..