WASHINGTON, Nov 21: Senator Hillary Clinton has accepted an offer from president-elect Barack Obama to become US secretary of state, joining her former Democratic rival to help guide foreign policy, the New York Times said on Friday.

The newspaper quoted two Clinton associates who said she came to her decision after additional discussions with Obama about the nature of her role as the top diplomat and his foreign policy plans.

“She’s ready,” one of the sources told the newspaper, which posted the report on its website.

Hillary Clinton emerged as a frontrunner for the secretary of state job late last week, transfixing a country which had seen her compete hard against Obama to win the Democratic nomination for presidency.

Obama clinched that nomination in June and then beat Republican John McCain in the Nov 4 election.

Democratic Party sources have recently said Hillary Clinton was on track to be nominated, with an official announcement expected after the Nov 27 Thanksgiving holiday.

The NBC news also reported two other key Obama appointments: New York Federal Reserve President Timothy Geithner as treasury secretary, and New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson as commerce secretary. The NBC said official announcements on the appointments were expected on Saturday.

Officials with the Obama transition team had no immediate comment.

Mrs Clinton has a global profile both as a political leader in her own right and as the wife of former president Bill Clinton.

Policy analysts say her selection as secretary of state could mean a more hawkish US stance, noting that she has been more reluctant than Obama to commit to a firm timetable for withdrawing troops from Iraq.—Reuters