Nothing new really, acting via proxies to stay within lawful bounds has been used for years, inteligence agencies do not hesitate to pay for or exchange service

Nothing new really, acting via proxies to stay within lawful bounds has been used for years, inteligence agencies do not hesitate to pay for or exchange services with sometimes very shady people to reach their goals. The most common example would be the outsourcing of "interrogation" to 3rd parties.