Glossary

Terrorism Risk Insurance Act (TRIA)

The 2002 federal law, run by Treasury, that backstops insurers' losses from certified terrorist attacks and requires them to offer terrorism coverage.

Also called: TRIA, TRIPRA, Terrorism Risk Insurance Program, federal terrorism backstop

Congress passed TRIA in 2002 after September 11 left insurers unable to price terrorism. The Terrorism Risk Insurance Program, run by the Treasury Department, now runs through Dec. 31, 2027 under the 2019 reauthorization. Commercial property and casualty insurers must make terrorism coverage available on terms not materially different from the rest of the policy, and the buyer may decline it. Workers' compensation cannot exclude it.

The federal backstop pays only after the whole industry's insured losses from certified acts reach $200 million in a year. Each insurer then pays a deductible of 20% of its prior-year direct earned premium, the government pays 80% of losses above that, and the program caps payments at $100 billion a year (Treasury, June 2026 effectiveness report). That report put the embedded terrorism premium at 2.3% to 2.8% of policy premium over 2023 to 2025 and 2025 take-up at 56% by premium.

Each chamber has passed its own bill extending the program to 2034, the House's H.R. 7128 in June 2026 and the Senate's S. 4395 in September, but neither was law as of Oct. 10, 2026. Coverage applies only to certified acts, and nuclear, chemical or cyber causes may be excluded, so read the terrorism endorsement. The guide on Terrorism insurance and TRIA: how the federal backstop works covers the election and pricing, and the war exclusion entry covers the overlap.

Last reviewed October 10, 2026

In the index now

Related terms

War exclusion A clause removing losses caused by war, military action and similar hostilities, which cyber policies now stretch to attacks backed by a nation-state. Reinsurance Insurance an insurer buys from a reinsurer to transfer part of its risk, add capacity and protect its capital from large or accumulated losses. Exclusion A policy provision that removes coverage for specified perils, property, people or types of loss that the insuring agreement would otherwise include. Workers' compensation State-mandated no-fault insurance that pays medical care and part of lost wages for work-related injuries, in exchange for limits on employee lawsuits. Probable maximum loss (PML) An estimate of the largest loss a location, portfolio or event is likely to produce, used to set limits, size reinsurance and satisfy lender requirements.

Related guides

Active assailant insurance: what it covers and what standard policies miss Active assailant policies pay for crisis response, lost income and liability after an armed attack that standard property and liability forms may not reach. War and state-backed attack exclusions in cyber policies What cyber war and state-backed attack exclusions say, how the NotPetya cases and Lloyd's 2023 rules shaped them, and what to check in your policy wording. Emerging risks insurers are watching in 2026 AI, systemic cyber, PFAS, litigation costs, secondary perils and heat are changing policy wording. What insurers are doing and what to ask your broker. The Federal Insurance Office and federal reach What Treasury's Federal Insurance Office does and does not do: monitoring, covered agreements, TRIA support, reports, and where federal law touches insurance. Political risk insurance: what it covers and who needs it Political risk insurance covers expropriation, blocked currency transfers, government contract breach and political violence abroad. Who writes it, how to buy. Systemic cyber risk and cyber catastrophe bonds Why one cloud outage or worm can hit thousands of insureds at once, how reinsurers and cyber cat bonds spread that risk, and what it means for your own policy.