There was no single body within the Jewish settlement capable of co-ordinating intelligence gathering before 1939. Until then there were four separate organisations without any regular or formal liaison. These were an underground militia, forerunner of the first official information service, Sherut Yediot (Shai); the Arab Platoon of the Palmach, which was staffed by Jews who were Arab-speaking and Arab-looking; Rekhesh, the arms procurement service, which had its own intelligence gathering capabilities, and likewise the Mossad LeAliyah Bet, the illegal immigration service. In mid-1939 the effort to co-ordinate the activities of these groups was led by Shaul Avigur and Moshe Shertok.
Britain had completed the modern deep-sea port in Haifa in 1933 and finished laying a pipeline from the Iraqi oilfields to Haifa in 1935, shortly before the outbreak of the revolt. A refinery for processing oil from the pipeline was completed by Consolidated Refineries Ltd, a company jointly owned by British Petroleum and Royal Dutch Shell, in December 1939.These facilities enhanced the strategic importance of Palestine and of Haifa in particular in Britain's control of the eastern Mediterranean. The threat to British control of the region posed by the Italian invasion of Abyssinia in October 1935 and the deteriorating situation in Europe toward the end of the 1930s probably made British policy makers more willing to make concessions to Arab governments on the Palestine issue following the furore over the recommendations of the Peel Commission.
At the beginning of the Revolt crew from the Haifa Naval Force's two cruisers were used to carry out tasks ashore, manning two howitzers and naval lorries equipped with QF 2 pounder naval guns and searchlights used to disperse Arab snipers. From the end of June two destroyers were used to patrol the coast of Palestine in a bid to prevent gun running. These searched as many as 150 vessels per week and were an effective preventive measure. At the request of the Army additional naval platoons landed in July to help protect Haifa and Jewish settlements in the surrounding countryside. The Navy also relieved the Army of duties in Haifa by using nine naval platoons to form the Haifa Town Force and in August three naval platoons were landed to support the police.Following publication of the Peel Commission's report in July 1937 HMS Repulse sailed to Haifa where landing parties were put ashore to maintain calm. Various other naval vessels continued with this role until the end of the revolt.Following the Irgun's detonation of a large bomb in a market in Haifa on 6 July 1938 the High Commissioner signalled the Commander-in-Chief of the Mediterranean Fleet, Admiral Sir Dudley Pound, requesting the assistance of naval vessels capable of providing landing parties. Pound dispatched HMS Repulse and diverted HMS Emerald to Haifa, which arrived the same day and landed five platoons, one to each police district. HMS Repulse relieved HMS Emerald the following day and after another bomb was detonated on 10 July five platoons from the ship, made up of sailors and Royal Marines, dispersed mobs and patrolled the city.On 11 July provision of three platoons from Repulse released men of the West Kent Regiment for a punitive mission against Arabs who had attacked a Jewish colony near Haifa. By 17 July the Repulse established a Company Headquarters where seamen and Royal Marines manned a 3.7-inch howitzer. Sailors, Royal Marines, and men of the Suffolk Regiment, who had embarked on the Repulse, accompanied foot patrols of the Palestine Police Force.The Repulse, Hood(en) and HMS Warspite provided howitzer crews which were sent ashore to combat gun running near the border with Lebanon. Detained Arabs were used to build emplacements and the howitzers were moved quickly between these positions by day and night to confuse bandits as to the likely direction of fire. Periodically, the guns were used to fire warning rounds close to the vicinity of villages believed to have rebel sympathies.
検事を退職してからは弁護士となったが、仕事が上手く軌道に乗らず幾つもの弁護士事務所を転々としていた。しかし1917年の被告人死刑とされた事件の鈴ヶ森おはる殺し事件で被告人の無罪を勝ち取ったことから刑事弁護士としての名声が高まり、1920年頃には年に250件の事件を担当し、1日平均4回法廷に立つまでになった。以降、刑事事件の他、多くの労働争議事件や廃娼運動、普選運動などの社会問題にも積極的に関わるようになったが、とりわけ名が知られているのは朝鮮独立運動に関する事件の弁護である。戦前は二重橋爆弾事件、朴烈事件、朝鮮共産党事件などの弁護や朝鮮半島や列島での朝鮮人政策についての批判を行い、また戦後も評定河原事件、阪神教育事件、平事件、台東会館事件など朝鮮人が関連した事件の弁護を担当した。このため布施は韓国で高い評価を受けており、2000年2月29日には韓国文化放送の1時間番組「PD手帳」で「発掘　日本人シンドラー布施辰治」と題した放送がなされた。そして2004年には韓国政府から建国勲章愛族章が授与され、布施は日本人として唯一の大韓民国建国勲章受章者となった。普選運動との関わりから政治研究会や労働農民党の左派に属し、1928年の第1回普通選挙には労働農民党の公認候補として出馬したが落選した。さらに同党が三・一五事件の影響で解党された後も、当時非合法であった日本共産党の弁護人として法廷に立ったが、1929年には弁護活動の「逸脱」を理由に自身が東京控訴院の懲戒裁判所に起訴され、1932年に大審院（現在の最高裁判所）の判決によって弁護士資格が剥奪された。さらに翌年には所属していた日本労農弁護士団が一斉検挙され、布施は被告団のうちで治安維持法違反で実刑判決を受け、千葉刑務所に1年余り下獄した。戦後、布施は自身が創立に関わった自由法曹団の復活に際しその顧問となった。1949年に三鷹事件が発生した際には、主犯とされた竹内景助が自白を維持していた頃から、その自白は偽りであるとして竹内の無実を主張したが、他の弁護士との衝突が激しくなり弁護団を脱退した。その後、無実を訴え始めた竹内の弁護に乗り出す姿勢も見せていたが、ほどなく1953年9月13日に癌で病死した。布施は東京都豊島区の常在寺（日蓮正宗）に葬られた。常在寺境内には、彼の座右の銘とされた「生きべくんば民衆とともに、死すべくんば民衆のために」を刻んだ顕彰碑も建立されている。