Allowing the federal terrorism risk insurance act to expire could have negative consequences for U.S. national security, according to a new study from the RAND Corporation. Insurance markets were unprepared for the aftermath of the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. Terrorism risk insurance quickly became either unavailable or extremely expensive. Congress reacted by passing the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act, which provided government support by providing mechanisms1 for spreading losses across policyholders（投保人） nationwide or using government payments to cover the most-extreme losses.The current terrorism risk insurance program will expire in 2014 and Congress again is considering the appropriate government role in terrorism insurance markets.Our study finds that if the act expires and the take-up rate for terrorism insurance falls, then our country would be less resilient to future terrorist attacks, said Henry Willis, lead author of the study and director of the Homeland Security and Defense2 Center at RAND, a nonprofit research organization.The RAND study found that terrorism remains3 a real -- albeit4（虽然） uncertain -- national security threat, with the most likely scenarios5 involving arson6 or explosives being used to damage property or conventional explosives or firearms used to kill and injure civilians7. Terrorism has occurred persistently8 in the U.S. since 2001, yet complex terrorist attacks have not occurred. However, there are active terrorist groups who do aspire9 to conduct more complex attacks on U.S. targets, and the possibility remains that sometime in the future, one of these groups may succeed.An examination of past attacks is only of limited use for accurately10 predicting the probability of future attacks or losses from attacks different than those that have occurred, Willis said. For that reason, there are limits to how terrorism risk models can be used to understand future terrorism risks.The current terrorism risk insurance program has a $27.5 billion threshold for aggregate11 losses that are paid by the insurance industry and commercial policyholders before the government program begins paying.The threshold ensures that the insurance industry, rather than the taxpayer12, is ultimately responsible for paying for those incidents that are within the range of the industrys modeling capability13. At the same time, that threshold permits insurance companies and policyholders to manage risks from incidents that involve deep uncertainty14 that cannot be adequately quantified using modeling.Willis and study co-author Omar Al-Shahery say terrorism insurance also can contribute to making communities more resilient to terrorism events. Access to appropriately priced terrorism insurance can promote economic growth, making resources available to address national security threats or other social problems. Recovery and rebuilding will be more rapid and efficient if the take-up rate for terrorism insurance is high.In these cases, policies and decision-making are clear about how much compensation will be available after an attack and how it will be distributed. The more-rapid recovery can reduce the consequences of subsequent attacks, thus contributing to national security.
点击收听单词发音
1 mechanisms n.机械；机械装置；[生物学] 机制；机械用途 参考例句： The research will provide direct insight into molecular mechanisms. 这项研究将使人可以直接地知道分子的机理。 来自《简明英汉词典》 He explained how the two mechanisms worked. 他讲解这两台机械装置是怎么样工作的。 来自《简明英汉词典》
相关文章推荐
