The head of the Insurance Information Institute says in the wake of the bombing tragedy at the Boston Marathon that the stability of the terrorism risk insurance market is contingent on sustaining a federal terrorism risk insurance backstop.

In most cases, out of concern the current focus should be on the people and communities impacted by the attack, industry officials are being cautious about commenting about the impact the bombing in Boston could have on its push for reauthorization of the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act (TRIA)–one of the industry's top priorities this year.

Robert Hartwig, president of I.I.I., who was standing about 100 feet from one of the bomb sites watching his son finish the marathon (he luckily left more than a hour before the blast), says the first successful terror attack in the U.S. since 9/11 and TRIA's scheduled expiration at the end of 2014 will prompt federal lawmakers to assess whether terrorism risk now, or ever, will be a risk that can be managed entirely within the private sector.