The United States’ ability to develop military technologies is being hamstrung by a “brutal” bureaucracy with a risk-averse culture which is preventing it from adequately countering China’s arms development, according to the Pentagon’s second-highest-ranking officer. “The pace [China is] moving and the trajectory that they’re on will surpass Russia and the United States if we don’t do something to change it,” said Gen. John Hyten, outgoing vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, at a Defense Writers Group meeting on Oct. 28. “It will happen.” Bureaucracy Stunting Military Development Hyten, who is soon due to retire, lamented the slow turnaround time for research and development in the U.S. military. He noted that the average time he expected new projects to take was 10-15 years. That process goes even longer at times if there is cause for significant oversight, he said. To put the pace in perspective, Hyten compared U.S. …