Since the dawn of time, humans have quested to know the truth and to detect deception. Over the years technological breakthroughs have assisted that endeavor. This Blue Horizons paper looks at the current state of the art for deception detection, the polygraph, and briefly examines its history, function, strengths, and weaknesses. Then, utilizing environmental scanning, backcasting, and a conversational Delphi technique, it looks to the near and distant future to answer the question, "How can today's best practices be combined with tomorrow's promising technologies and discoveries to enhance the fields of investigation, human intelligence gathering (HUMINT), and deception detection for other purposes?" Through futurist case studies in the year 2020 and 2035, the paper looks to technologies such as brain fingerprinting, P300 scanning, thermal imaging of facial physiology, facial micro-expressions, and "Silent Talker." In the end, research seems to point to technology as the enabler for the critical human element in criminal investigation and deception detection.
