The Empiest Filler Sentence of the Day

That would be in this write-up of Dennis Blair's resignation:

Blair's exit creates a critical national security vacancy at a time when U.S. spy agencies are under pressure to step up their defenses against emerging terrorist threats.

Why is the present any more vital than any other point in the past nine years? At what point since 2001 have spy agencies not been under pressure to step up their defenses against emerging terrorist threats?

Indicentally, I don't mean to take pleasure in another's misfortune, but after eight years of a loyalty fetish in the White House, it's kind of nice to see a head roll when things go wrong.