"It is difficult to know how many we are going to get, it is difficult to know how departments will deal with requests," she said.
Mr. Rouse countered, "Either she didn't know how the department was being run or she was flat-out lying".
Scientists often think that they know how their department or institution works, where its defects are, and what needs to be done to fix them.
"I think you know how strongly this department and Secretary Clinton feels about these issues," Ms. Nuland told reporters, "that gay rights are human rights and human rights are gay rights, and that we will speak out for what we think is right anywhere in the world, including in Pakistan".
The committee also wanted to know how quickly the department would fill gaps in commercial and major project expertise among its personnel.
"When it comes to the tenure process, for example, departments need to know how two or three departments can judge multidisciplinary persons for tenure.
He said that in recent years, many department heads have complained that "they know how to fix their department and how to spend money to make money, but they have been ignored".
"I said, 'Do you know how expensive a police department is?"' Mr. Curry recalled.
Mr. Browne said that he did not know how long ago the department stopped releasing its crowd estimates for all sorts of events, from parades to protests, but that it was probably about a decade ago.
The next morning, my husband and I let the gym department know how we felt.
But the guys in the business department, they know how to crunch numbers for a purpose".
