I agree on "not maven fault" but I don't find that much bureaucracy insane, for one changing dependencies on a mature java project doesn't happen that often, and for another knowing licensing, possible patent violation and a scan against a known vulnerabilities database is not a bad thing to do and it's normal for it to take some time as it passes hand between different people, after all you don't want devs working on licensing and you don't want to waste legals just to run a package trough vuln scans software.

beside, companies that care usually also have a database of previously cleared packages, so one can reduce one own work/delays by picking from the approved deps list.