So, who told the State Department about Valerie Plame?

We know that State knew--that infamous memo.

How did that info get from the CIA to the State Department? Who was involved in those conversations--who from the CIA was talking and who from the State Department was listening?

Colin Powell, if he was initally in posession of the memo, is the key figure here. I expect that Fitzgerald is going to want a full accounting of the whereabots of the memo at all times, as well as who saw the memo or was involved in any discussions about the memo.

Wilson's report (or, more accurately, a CIA officer's report of Wilson's debriefing) was passed to the Bureau of Intelligence and Research (INR) in the State Department. The INR was also interested in the alleged uranium deal, although they were even more skeptical of it than the CIA.

Of course, that doesn't really answer the question, since neither Wilson was named in that report.

If it was, say, Hadley, then it makes Rove and Libby's claims to have found out about it from reporters all the less credible.

They are lying. When Rove says he doesn't recall who first told him about the matter, what he really means is that Mr. Fitzgerald will have to figure it out. Hopefully, he has.

has yet to be fully ascertained.

Did the Air Force One memo refer to her as Wilson's wife?

WHO had access to the CIA's information and knew enough to connect it to Wilson?

My theory: Wilson article appeared. Immediately Rove said to his minions, "Okay people -- dirt on Wilson. Find out everything you can about him and his family."

Someone digs around, finds the name of his wife, researches her, presents info to Rove (or someone) who spread the info around, including to pals in the State Department.

Someone knows -- and they'll talk I bet.

claim that Wilson's wife recommended Wilson for the trip. The CIA disputes the claim and says the agent cited could not have attended the meeting. From Media Matters site:

Articles on State Dept. memo on Plame ignored that CIA officials have challenged its claim that Plame suggested Wilson for Niger trip

In the last four days, The Washington Post, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, the Los Angeles Times and Time magazine have all reported on a classified State Department memo that may have been where White House officials first learned the identity of then-covert CIA operative Valerie Plame before that information was leaked to syndicated columnist Robert D. Novak, Time correspondent Matthew Cooper, and possibly others. While all these articles reported that the memo and/or its accompanying materials mention that it was Plame who recommended her husband, former ambassador Joseph C. Wilson IV, for his CIA-sponsored trip to Niger, all failed to note that CIA officials reportedly dispute this part of the document.

The memo, written by the State Department's Bureau of Intelligence and Research (INR), contained an intelligence assessment disputing the allegation that Iraq had sought uranium from Niger, as well as an attachment with an INR analyst's notes from a February 19, 2002, meeting where the CIA discussed sending Wilson to Niger to investigate the allegation. The notes reported that Plame recommended Wilson for the trip. (It's not clear whether the claim that Plame suggested her husband for the trip was also included in the memo itself, or only in the accompanying notes.) But CIA officials reportedly dispute this part of the document because, they claim, the CIA agent whom the notes record as describing Plame's role at the 2002 meeting could not have attended it.
http://mediamatters.org/items/200507200002

State's INR had a representative in attendance at the CIA meeting where sending Wilson to Niger was discussed. More at link above.

Still don't know who came up with and used the name "Plame" since she'd been going by "Wilson" for about 4 years at the time of that meeting. The INR's meeting notes apparently did not ID Wilson or his wife by name according to the NYT article cited at Media Matters.


Also, from Wilson's recent interview with Raw Story:

Wilson: I don’t know. I will tell you this. At the meeting I attended in February at CIA headquarters, prior to my trip to Niger, Valerie escorted me into the building, and she took me into the room as my wife, and she left before the meeting began. But there were other participants in the room, all of whom had the requisite clearances to be there and to be involved in these meetings and some of whom were from the State Department. I don’t know their names, I don’t who all it was or what offices they came from. http://rawstory.com/news/2005/Interview_Ambassador_Wilson_husband_of_outed_CIA_agent_sees_larger_Administration_ro_0713.html

meeting, and has grilled each.

And her name and occupation were in the secret file. That's why he has fought so hard to prevent release of the names he requested files on.