 The FBI and, indeed, the whole of the U.S. intelligence community, is under fire once more for fabricating 'terrorist' attacks and then 'thwarting' them before they take place, as a means of further empowering the surveillance state and power of the federal government. According to NBC News , FBI agents have arrested an Ohio man who allegedly was attempting to set up an ISIS cell in the United States and planning an attack against the U.S. Capitol Building. However, U.S. officials also told NBC News that there was never any danger because the government set up the whole thing. NBC News provided additional details: Christopher Lee Cornell, 20, of Green Township, near Cincinnati, was arrested after he bought two M-15 semi-automatic rifles and about 600 rounds of ammunition as the undercover operative watched, according to an FBI affidavit. Government officials said Cornell never purchased any pipe bomb components. 'There was never a danger to the public,' one official said. Cornell faces a preliminary court hearing Jan. 22 in U.S. District Court in Cincinnati. He will face charges of attempting to kill a U.S. government officer and possession of a firearm in furtherance of an attempted crime of violence. FBI officials say they got on to Cornell after being tipped by an informant in August that he was posting comments under the alias 'Raheel Mahrus Ubaydah' on Twitter in support of ISIS. Shortly thereafter, the FBI sent an operative undercover to meet with him. Set up by the FBI - never would have happened, otherwise Court documents say that, during a meeting with the FBI's operative, Cornell said he wished 'to go forward with violent jihad' and that was something encouraged by Anwar al-Awlaki, a U.S. born Muslic cleric who was killed by an American drone strike in September 2011 , becoming the first U.S. citizen known publicly to have been added to the U.S. kill-or-capture list of terrorist suspects. The FBI alleges that Cornell made it perfectly clear that he wanted to create an ISIS cell in the United States. The agency says Cornell told the undercover agent in a text message: 'I believe we should meet up and make our own group in alliance with the Islamic State here and plan operations ourselves.' NBC News further noted: Later, in a meeting in November, the FBI said, Cornell said he wanted to 'build, plant, and detonate pipe bombs at and near the U.S. Capitol,' then 'shoot and kill employees and officials.' Critics say that the FBI is intentionally ginning up terrorist threats so that the agency, along with the intel community at large, as well as friendly lawmakers, can justify higher intelligence budgets and more draconian surveillance and arrest measures. As noted on Activist Post : The FBI is at it again. Creating fake terror plots to justify their existence. And this plot hits on all the themes one would expect from a good fake terror plot. The FBI initially found a patsy by trolling Twitter for support of ISIS. That's exciting because finding someone retarded enough to admit support for them is really difficult. Then they sent an in-house jihadist to team up with the patsy to plan a grand terror attack on the nation's Capitol. Heroically, the moment the 20-year-old patsy said he would 'go forward with violent jihad' the FBI steps in and declares a victory in the war on terror. History of 'abuse ' under ' guise of counterterrorism ' The FBI has been 'staging' false terror attacks for some time: -- In September 2011, Britain's The Guardian newspaper reported on 'fake terror plots' and 'paid informants' to 'entrap' 'terrorist' suspects. That story is here . -- Activist Post reported on a phony FBI 'terror plot' in October 2012; that post is here . -- In November 2011, Reuters reported on another lone wolf patsy here . -- The ACLU has been following the FBI's 'record of extraordinary abuse... under the guise of counterterrorism after 9/11.' That report is here . Sources: http://www.nbcnews.com http://www.activistpost.com http://www.theguardian.com http://www.activistpost.com http://www.reuters.com 