WASHINGTON - PROSPECTIVE Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton is moving to surround herself with a cast of die-hard loyalists and veterans of her husband's administration to help her cope with world crises and backstage Washington power plays.

For her team of foreign policy experts, the woman who would be the third female US secretary of state is expected to draw heavily from the staff of the first, Ms Madeleine Albright, who was an early supporter of the former first lady's unsuccessful bid for the Democratic presidential nomination. Ms Albright was state secretary during President Bill Clinton's second term.

To deal with internal Obama administration affairs, State Department bureaucratic politics and media pressures, the Clinton appears set to tap current US Senate aides and former White House 'Hillaryland' stalwarts, whose reputation for insularity and staunch protectiveness already has set off anxiety among career foreign service officers.

State Department officials say they have been told to expect visits as early as next week from Clinton advisers who are working with President-elect Barack Obama's incoming transition team.

Members of the next administration's team have been at State since mid-November, getting briefings and visiting officials there.

Neither the transition team nor Mrs Clinton's office would comment.

Those officials and people familiar with the transition say most, if not all of Mrs Clinton's growing team of advisers will be tapped for senior State Department positions.

Mr James Steinberg, President Bill Clinton's former deputy national security adviser who was once thought a prospect to become Mr Obama's national security adviser, is now 'a lock' to become deputy secretary of state under Mrs Clinton, according to people close to the transition who spoke on condition of anonymity because no announcements have been made.

On the policy side, there is strong speculation that Mrs Clinton's Senate foreign policy guru, Mr Andrew Shapiro, will play a leading role as will Mr Lee Feinstein, who was her national security adviser during the campaign. Mr Feinstein is a member of the State Department transition team and served as deputy policy planning director under Ms Albright.

For Mrs Clinton's personal staff, names already floated include longtime confidante and 2008 Clinton presidential campaign manager Maggie Williams, attorney Cheryl Mills, personal assistant Huma Abedin, current senior adviser and spokesman Philippe Reines, and Mrs Clinton's chief of staff when she was first lady, Ms Melanne Verveer.

All are known to be fiercely loyal. The prospect of their imminent arrival in Foggy Bottom has been a hot topic of nervous corridor conversation among many in the professional diplomatic corps who fear they will be frozen out of positions of influence.

Mr Doug Hattaway, the former spokesman for Mr Al Gore's 2000 presidential campaign who also worked for Mrs Clinton during the primaries, has been mentioned as a favorite to become the next State Department spokesman.

Ms Albright's high-profile former spokesman, Mr James Rubin, along with top Albright assistant Suzy George, already have been seen at the US Mission to the United Nations.

They are working with a group that will smooth the way for the next US ambassador to the United Nations, Albright protege Susan Rice, whose defection to the Obama camp during the 2008 campaign caused a stir among Clinton loyalists.

Mr Rubin, based in New York, is advising the transition team.

A look at the Obama camp's Agency Review Team for the State Department and its National Security Policy Working Group provides hints as to other potential appointments.

Among those who served in the Albright State Department are former counsellor Wendy Sherman, counterterror coordinator Michael Sheehan, law enforcement chief Rand Beers, arms control expert Robert Einhorn, former ambassador to Indonesia Robert Gelbard and Middle East hands Daniel Kurtzer, Dennis Ross and Toni Verstandig.

All are potential candidates for top slots.

One notable name on the list is Mr Michael Guest, one of only two openly gay ambassadors ever to represent the United States overseas.

Mr Guest resigned from the US Foreign Service in midcareer last December to protest the State Department's treatment of same-sex partners of diplomats. -- AP