As I understand it, that is your basic hypothesis or assumption in all of your answers to interpretation?
Mr. Herndon. Fine, if we will keep that in mind.
Mr. Specter. Yes. I think that is fair and I think we have put that on the record at the start so that whatever you interpret here is based on the assumption that he was in touch with reality, understood the questions, and knew what he was answering.
Mr. Herndon. Correct, sir.
Mr. Specter. But the point I was coming to was, you said it “could be interpreted” that there was no pattern of deception, and my concern was whether there was any deliberate qualification in your answer on “could be interpreted” or whether it was your positive interpretation that assuming he knew what he was talking about and was sane, that there was no pattern of deception in his negative answer on the question of, “Did you assist Oswald in the assassination?”
Mr. Herndon. To answer that question, Mr. Specter, I would have to go back to my original statement that the polygraph technique is not considered precise enough to make absolute statements of deception or nondeception, so, therefore, any time I make any observation it would be using probably a qualified word such as “appeared to indicate deception” or “suggestive of deception,” keeping in mind that, of course, there are many emotional responses that I am not in a position to evaluate, such as fear of being falsely accused, dislike for the people in the room, other factors which may tend to negate positive statements that here in fact this thing is meaning he is not lying.
Mr. Specter. On that particular question, were there any indicators at all that he was deceiving in his answer to question No. 6, to wit: “Did you assist Oswald in the assassination?”
Mr. Herndon. Other than a slight impact in the GSR, there was no noticeable change in his physiological responses to that particular question.
Mr. Specter. And what was the slight impact that you referred to in the GSR, meaning galvanic skin response?
Mr. Herndon. The impact here not being significant enough to make any specific evaluation.