Since President Barack Obama took office in 2009, his administration has pushed through changes in the Defense Department that have made the U.S. military more inclusive. Among them, the Pentagon repealed the controversial “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy that banned gay people from openly serving in the military, opened all combat jobs to women and is expected to begin letting transgender service members serve openly this year.

But one issue has been lagging: racial diversity. While the military “has probably done as good of a job as any institution in our society” in integrating and bringing a diverse range of people into its ranks, Obama said last week, its most senior ranks are “less and less reflective” of society.

A new proposal circulating in the Pentagon may address that. USA Today reported Wednesday that one new proposal the Pentagon is weighing calls for the services to consider minority candidates for prestigious jobs like aide-de-camp and military assistant that frequently serve as a stepping stone to promotions. It would have some similarities to the NFL’s “Rooney Rule,” which requires teams to interview minority candidates for head coaching and senior football operation jobs.

USA Today reported that the Navy has raised concerns that adopting something similar could lead to litigation. The services must report to Defense Secretary Ashton Carter by May on how they would adopt the proposed rule into their diversity policies.

More than 20 years after Army Gen. Colin Powell retired from the military as the first black officer to serve as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, no Hispanic, black officer or woman has since served as a service chief.

Among current combatant commanders, who each oversee operations in a specific geographic region or specialty, there’s a bit more diversity. The retiring chief of U.S. Central Command, Army Gen. Lloyd Austin, was the first black officer to hold that position. Another black officer, Adm. Cecil Haney, has led U.S. Strategic Command since 2013, and the officer leading U.S. Pacific Command, Adm. Harry Harris Jr., is Japanese American.

Air Force Gen. Lori Robinson also was recently nominated to take over U.S. Northern Command and the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD), which would make her the first woman to ever run a combatant command.

Obama, speaking at the University of Chicago, said last week that he had a “really interesting conversation” recently while meeting with the Joint Chiefs and combatant commanders about what is occurring. It’s unclear, he noted, how much of the lack of diversity is due to young black, Hispanic and female officers’ immediate superior not mentoring them or them being steered into positions less likely to lead to advancement.

“If a lot of those folks are going in as enlisted men and women, because that’s the opportunity that was presented to them and nobody told them they could apply to West Point, what are we doing to find outstanding enlisteds, and saying, you’d make a good officer and we’re going to groom you?” Obama said.

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