Washington (CNN) Secretary of State Mike Pompeo ended a largely self-imposed hiring freeze Tuesday, which had hampered staffing decisions at the State Department for over a year.

In an email to agency employees, obtained by CNN, Pompeo said the move would "give our domestic bureaus and missions overseas the flexibility to fill positions that are essential to promoting the Department's mission and the United States' foreign policy goals worldwide on behalf of the American people."

"The Department's workforce is our most valuable asset," he added. "We need our men and women on the ground, executing American diplomacy with great vigor and energy, and representing our great nation."

The State Department had been operating under the freeze since January of last year, when newly inaugurated President Donald Trump signed an executive order to temporarily halt hiring across many federal agencies.

But when the large-scale freeze was lifted the following April in favor of what the White House called "targeted" and "surgical" cuts, then-Secretary of State Rex Tillerson opted to continue the embargo in his department, with exceptions made on a case-by-case basis.

Read More