Top US general vows response if military confirms reports of Russian bounties

Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (CJCS)
The Goldwater-Nichols DOD Reorganization Act of 1986 identifies the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff as the senior ranking member of the Armed Forces. As such, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff is the principal military adviser to the President. He may seek the advice of and consult with the other JCS members and combatant commanders. When he presents his advice, he presents the range of advice and opinions he has received, along with any individual comments of the other JCS members.

There are definitely opportunities to confirm/deny this and we should do so.
I get the feeling that this is a red herring, though.

This bit, right on:

"He suggested that the US may not be responding to the reports as robustly as necessary in non-military ways.

“The issue is at the strategic level,” he said. “Is there diplomatic, and informational and economic … sanctions, are there démarches, are there phone calls, is there pressure, those sorts of things. And I can tell you that some of that is done. Are we doing as much as we could or should? Perhaps not, not only to the Russians but to others.”"

That is to say, if true not everything needs a military response.