WASHINGTON — President-elect Barack Obama plans today to announce six experienced hands to fill top administration posts, moving at record speed to name the leadership team that will guide his presidency through a time of war and recession.

His selections include longtime advisers and political foes alike, most notably Democratic primary rival Hillary Rodham Clinton as secretary of state and President Bush's defense secretary, Robert Gates, staying in that post. The two were among six who Obama planned to announce at a news conference in Chicago, Democratic officials said.

The officials said Obama also planned to name Washington lawyer Eric Holder as attorney general and Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano as homeland security secretary. He also planned to announce two senior foreign policy positions outside the Cabinet: campaign foreign policy adviser Susan Rice as U.N. ambassador and retired Marine Gen. James L. Jones as national security adviser.

The Democratic officials disclosed the plans yesterday on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized for public release ahead of the news conference.

Obama also has settled on former Senate Democratic leader Tom Daschle to be his secretary of health and human services, and New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson to be commerce secretary, but those announcements are not yet official. Last week, he named key members of his economic team, including Timothy Geithner, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, as treasury secretary.

The decisions mean Obama has half of his Cabinet assembled less than a month after the election, including the most prominent positions at State, Justice, Treasury and Defense. The team so far shares deep experience and proven ability to get things done.

Clinton's nomination is the latest chapter in what began as a bitter rivalry for the Democratic presidential nomination. After Obama defeated her, Clinton backed his general election campaign against Republican Sen. John McCain, and she now has agreed to give up her Senate seat to be his top diplomat.

Advisers said Obama had for several months envisioned Clinton as his top diplomat, and he invited her to Chicago to discuss the job just a week after the Nov. 4 election. The two met privately Nov. 13 in Obama's transition office in downtown Chicago.

To make it possible for his wife to become secretary of state, party officials said, former President Clinton has agreed to disclose the names of every contributor to his foundation since its inception in 1997, volunteer to step away from day-to-day management of the foundation while his wife is in the Cabinet, and refuse donations from foreign governments to the Clinton Global Initiative, his annual charitable conference, among other stipulations.