Potential Secretary of State Hillary Clinton hasn’t announced her staff, but there’s chatter that the former First Lady’s looking to stack the State Department with allies and supporters who have worked for both Hillary and her husband.

President Bill Clinton’s former national security adviser, James Steinberg, has been said to be a "lock" for the deputy secretary of state position, while Mrs. Clinton’s Senate foreign-policy adviser Andrew Shapiro and campaign foreign-policy adviser Lee Feinstein are also said to be picks for department positions. Members of former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright’s team are also said to be in the mix.

These people are great, of course, but there’s no group closer to Mrs. Clinton than "Hillaryland": the insular, intimate group who have advised and aided the politicians for years — and show no sign of slowing down. In fact, many key "Hillaryland" residents are reportedly going to follow Clinton to the State Department. And that’s worrying some officials.

For 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 Clinton’s chief of staff when she was first lady, 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.

Clinton critics will no doubt use these possible appointments as "proof" the politician is simply working for herself, or perhaps evidence that Barack Obama won’t be the change agent many assumed he would become. Those are valid arguments, we guess, but we’d much rather have the top diplomat working with people who know what they’re doing and also are familiar with her style. If Clinton can’t commmunicate well with her staff, how on earth would she get along with foreign officials?

Plus, girlfriends have to stick together! It’s a rule, even in Washington.