Mr. Plumeri, in his letter to President Bush, said the advisory panel created by the TRIA extension legislation should be the vehicle for a permanent fix. The group, he said, should “look beyond the limited charge given to it by Congress and seek to develop practical, long-term solutions to what is likely to be a more or less permanent problem–terrorism.”

The recent two-year extension of TRIA, which provides a federal backstop for insurers when terrorism losses reach certain threshold levels, is no more than a “place-holder on the path of a long-term solution,” Mr. Plumeri wrote. “Many other countries have developed varying public/private approaches to address this problem, and we now have two years to find a more permanent solution.”

Under the new TRIA law, signed by President Bush on Dec. 22, the President's Working Group on Financial Markets is required to consult with the National Association of Insurance Commissioners, officials from the insurance and securities industries, as well as policyholder representatives to analyze the long-term availability and affordability of insurance for terrorism risks.

Their charter includes an examination of the situation for group life coverage and coverage for chemical, nuclear, biological and radiological events. The working group must report back to Congress by Sept. 30.

The panel is comprised of representatives of the Treasury Department, the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve Board.

Meanwhile, changes made to TRIA will not require any immediate modifications to terrorism insurance endorsements and related rules put out by the Insurance Services Office or the American Association of Insurance Services, the two groups noted.