Did the police have to break the law to stop those attacks? Because the question is not if a country should have a counterintelligence service, but what legal t

Did the police have to break the law to stop those attacks? Because the question is not if a country should have a counterintelligence service, but what legal tools it should be given, whether it should be under judicial control when using them, and how to control it so that it does not abuse the powers (both legal and physical) it is given.