(MCT) — WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama, who has championed lethal drone strikes as a major part of U.S. counterterrorism efforts, bowed to pressure Wednesday and agreed to allow the Senate and House intelligence committees to review classified legal memos used to justify a drone strike against a U.S. citizen in Yemen in 2011.

Senators had demanded for months to see the Justice Department opinions that provided the White House legal authority to order the targeted killing of Anwar al-Awlaki, a New Mexico native who became a Qaida leader.