Whereas the United States faces ever evolving and growing malicious cyber attacks, including large-scale breaches that impact the personal identities and personal information of millions of Americans; Whereas these cybersecurity threats also pose significant risk to the protection of critical infrastructure, national security, and defense; Whereas the United States faces a critical shortage of trained cybersecurity professionals, a shortage that includes an estimated 10,000 cybersecurity employment openings in the Federal Government currently, and the potential of as many as a million unfilled positions throughout the United States by 2019; Whereas the Presidential Executive order on Strengthening the Cybersecurity of Federal Networks and Critical Infrastructure calls upon the Departments of Commerce and Homeland Security to jointly assess the scope and sufficiency of efforts to educate and train the American cybersecurity workforce of the future; Whereas it is essential that efforts to educate and train American cybersecurity professionals for the private sector, government, and United States military address the need for specific skills in machine learning, artificial intelligence, and cyber autonomy to succeed in the rapidly evolving environment; Whereas early exposure to computer programming and ethical hacking skills increases accessibility to higher education programs and cybersecurity awareness; Whereas Congress has supported the joint effort of the National Integrated Cyber Education Research Center and the Department of Homeland Security to advance curricula development and teacher training in basic cybersecurity for middle and high schools; Whereas competitions that promote ethical hacking skills, such as the picoCTF competition which was developed collaboratively by a leading university, the private sector, and Federal agencies, have proven to be instrumental in developing technical experience and promoting interest in exploring cybersecurity careers