I 

115TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1609 

To amend title 10, United States Code, to support meeting the increasing 

needs of the United States for a cybersecurity and information assurance 

workforce by reinvigorating and modifying the Information Assurance 

Scholarship Program of the Department of Defense, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MARCH 17, 2017 

Mr. LANGEVIN (for himself, Mr. ALLEN, Mr. JOHNSON of Georgia, Mr. 

AGUILAR, Mr. RATCLIFFE, and Mr. TED LIEU of California) introduced 

the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Armed Services 

A BILL 

To amend title 10, United States Code, to support meeting 

the increasing needs of the United States for a cybersecurity and information assurance workforce by reinvigorating and modifying the Information Assurance Scholarship Program of the Department of Defense, and for 

other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Department of Defense 

5 Cyber Scholarship Program Act of 2017’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. REINVIGORATING AND MODIFYING THE INFORMA2 TION ASSURANCE SCHOLARSHIP PROGRAM. 

3 (a) FINDINGS AND SENSE OF CONGRESS.— 

4 (1) FINDINGS.—Congress makes the following 

5 findings: 

6 (A) Cyber threats to United States inter7 ests posed by state and non-state actors are 

8 growing as the United States becomes increas9 ingly reliant on the Internet and cyberspace for 

10 critical services. 

11 (B) A well-trained workforce is essential to 

12 meeting the increasing cybersecurity needs of 

13 the United States. 

14 (C) The Department of Defense Cyber 

15 Strategy, issued in April 2015, cites building 

16 the cyber workforce among its objectives for 

17 achieving the essential strategic goal of building 

18 and maintaining ready forces and capabilities to 

19 conduct cyberspace operations. 

20 (D) Specifically, the strategy stresses the 

21 importance of improving civilian recruitment 

22 and retention for fulfilling the cyber missions of 

23 the Department of Defense. 

24 (E) Many community colleges offer degrees 

25 or industry-recognized credentials in cybersecuVerDate Sep 11 2014 03:52 Mar 22, 2017 Jkt 069200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1609.IH H1609

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1 rity and related fields that prepare students to 

2 fill high demand cybersecurity jobs. 

3 (F) The Information Assurance Scholar4 ship Program of the Department of Defense 

5 and the National Security Agency promotes re6 cruitment, education, and retention of cyberse7 curity professionals. 

8 (G) Since 2001, the Information Assurance 

9 Scholarship Program has supported individuals 

10 pursuing cybersecurity education and training 

11 in exchange for government service. 

12 (H) Since 2013, budgetary considerations 

13 have resulted in reductions to funding for Infor14 mation Assurance Scholarship Program. 

15 (I) The efforts of the Department of De16 fense to build a cybersecurity workforce capable 

17 of defending against and responding to cyber 

18 threats should include reinvigorating the Infor19 mation Assurance Scholarship Program and 

20 supporting cybersecurity degree programs at 

21 United States educational institutions. 

22 (2) SENSE OF CONGRESS.—It is the sense of 

23 Congress that the Secretary of Defense should— 

24 (A) consider the Information Assurance 

25 Scholarship Program to be a critical cybersecuVerDate Sep 11 2014 03:52 Mar 22, 2017 Jkt 069200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1609.IH H1609

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1 rity effort of the Chief Information Officer of 

2 the Department of Defense; 

3 (B) continue to support programs at 2- 

4 year institutions of higher education that help 

5 students develop skills necessary to support the 

6 cybersecurity missions of the United States; 

7 and 

8 (C) restore funding to the program to re9 cruit and retain new scholarship recipients and 

10 build capacity at institutions of higher edu11 cation. 

12 (b) MODIFICATION OF INFORMATION ASSURANCE

13 SCHOLARSHIP PROGRAM.— 

14 (1) DESIGNATION OF PROGRAM.—Section 

15 2200a of title 10, United States Code, is amended 

16 by adding at the end the following new subsection: 

17 ‘‘(h) DESIGNATION OF PROGRAM.—A program under 

18 which the Secretary provides financial assistance under 

19 subsection (a) of this section and grants under section 

20 2200b of this title shall be known as the ‘Department of 

21 Defense Cyber Scholarship Program’.’’. 

22 (2) ALLOCATION OF FUNDING.—Subsection (f) 

23 of such section is amended— 

24 (A) by inserting ‘‘(1)’’ before ‘‘Not less’’; 

25 and 


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1 (B) by adding at the end the following new 

2 paragraph: 

3 ‘‘(2) Not less than five percent of the amount avail4 able for financial assistance under this section for a fiscal 

5 year shall be available for providing financial assistance 

6 for the pursuit of an associate degree.’’. 

7 (c) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There is 

8 authorized to be appropriated to the Secretary of Defense 

9 to provide financial assistance under section 2200a of such 

10 title, as amended by subsection (b), and grants under sec11 tion 2200b of such title, $10,000,000 for fiscal year 2018. 

12 (d) REINVIGORATION PLAN REQUIRED.—Not later 

13 than September 30, 2018, the Secretary of Defense shall 

14 submit to the congressional defense committees (as de15 fined in section 101(a) of such title) a plan for reinvigo16 rating the Department of Defense Cyber Scholarship Pro17 gram, as designated by section 2200a(h) of such title, as 

18 added by subsection (b)(1) of this section. 

Æ 


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