Even if the lawyers insisted the sequester must apply to "PPAs" per se, the budgeteers could formally construe PPAs in ways that preserve a work-around.

WSJ: Review & Outlook: The Sequester Revelation

As the budgeteers huddle behind closed doors, it is perfectly possible that the taunts of isolationism will needle Republicans into greater generosity on the foreign-operations budget, thereby vindicating Mr Berger's way of doing things.

ECONOMIST: America??s new i-word

Defense companies have good reason to think they are being disproportionately targeted by budgeteers, since the Obama Administration had already spent two years slashing weapons accounts even before the Budget Control Act became law in August of 2011.

FORBES: Sequestration Threat To Defense Sector Begins To Recede