Will Dan Rather resign? Will other heads roll? Will the two “60 Minutes” shows start talking to each other?

Those questions, among many others, were making the rounds at CBS News headquarters in New York on Tuesday, after Rather’s stunning mea culpa on “CBS Evening News” Monday.

After a two-week media firestorm, Rather – and CBS News chief Andrew Heyward – admitted they could not authenticate documents CBS had used to raise new questions about President Bush’s Vietnam-era National Guard service.

Ever the good Marine, Rather apologized. He said he shouldn’t have included the documents in his headline-making report, which aired Sept. 8 on “60 Minutes”‘ Wednesday edition.

CBS today will announce members of an independent commission to investigate. Among names heard: Ex-Secretary of State Henry Kissinger and Kathleen Hall Jamieson, of the University of Pennsylvania’s Annenberg Public Policy Center and a former CBS analyst.

“There aren’t enough hours in the day for me to even consider taking on other responsibilities,” she says.

The mood at CBS was understandably glum. One high-ranking CBS News executive said the troops were “in a state of shock.”

“People are pretty down and depressed,” says Steve Kroft, 59, in his 16th season as a correspondent for “60 Minutes”‘ Sunday edition. “Everybody’s asking, “How could this happen?’ At the same time, we’re realizing we don’t know the answer to that.”

“It’s tough, and it’s really hurt people here,” says Washington ace Bob Schieffer, 67, a 35-year CBS vet and longtime friend of fellow Texan Rather.

“We have to rebuild ourselves, publicly, as credible,” says a highly placed CBS News exec, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Rather, 72, wasn’t talking Tuesday. Ditto for Heyward and other CBS executives.

Opinions vary about what repercussions, if any, will result from the scandal.

Rather’s Bush report reinforces the long-held perception by some conservatives that Rather, as well as CBS, has a liberal, anti-Bush bias. Some conservative groups are pushing for Rather to resign.

CBS has confirmed that Rather’s producer, Mary Mapes, helped facilitate a call to John Kerry’s campaign by Bill Burkett, a Democrat and former Texas National Guard officer who supplied the disputed Bush documents.

Burkett acknowledged Monday to Rather on the air that he had lied about the source of the documents.

For CBS, the phone call makes the controversy “a damaging blow politically as well as journalistically” because it gives the impression that the network has “an antipathy for George Bush,” says Alex Jones, director of Harvard’s Shorenstein Center on the Press, Politics and Public Policy.

Schieffer, along with numerous other CBS staffers, is puzzled at how any story, particularly a controversial one, could get on the air without the show’s executive producer (in this case, Josh Howard) knowing the source.

“How do you get to that point? It’s inexcusable.”

Though the jury’s still out, Harvard’s Jones, a Rather admirer, predicts that some CBS staffers may lose their jobs – including Rather, star anchor since 1981 and a 42-year CBS veteran. His contract runs through ‘06.

“The idea that CBS would force Rather to resign would be an extremely strong statement. CBS will seek to find ways not to have to do that.”

Within the CBS ranks, there is much support for Rather, says a highly placed news-division source: “If you polled 100 people in this organization today, 100 people would say he absolutely should not resign.”

The “60 Minutes” debacle occurred just a few months after the forced departure of executive producer Don Hewitt, 81, who created the titanically successful Sunday “60” in 1968.

Hewitt fought the creation of the midweek “60 Minutes II” in January ‘99. When he left, Jeff Fager of “60 Minutes II” took over, switching jobs with “60’s” Howard. “60II” was renamed “60 Minutes” this season, also against the wishes of Hewitt and the “60 Sunday” staff.

Hewitt, under a 10-year contract as an executive producer, is supposed to be a consultant for “60 Minutes.” But he was not consulted during this story, he says.

“I was told (by CBS) that they wanted me to stick around and lend a helping hand to Fager and Howard. When push came to shove, nobody asked me to do that.”

The staffs of both “60 Minutes” share the same floor, but they are, in Kroft’s words, “”very competitive.” They do not discuss stories.

At “60 Sunday,” “I would like to think we wouldn’t have done that story,” Kroft says. ” … The fact that these documents surfaced now should have immediately raised a lot of red flags. I’d like to think we would have said, “Wait a minute.”‘