Last Friday, the U.S. Joint Terrorism Task Force announced the arrest of Adel Daoud, a suburban Chicago teenager who’s since been said to be “enamored with Osama bin Laden and intent on killing Americans.” Daoud is charged with planting a bomb outside a downtown bar and attempting to detonate it. He failed.

The bomb was a dummy, provided by the FBI—specifically an agent posing as his co-conspirator. Accused in similar past operations of entrapping hapless “jihadists,” the feds worked hard to keep the Daoud sting above board. And while it’s great to see authorities actively pursuing potential terrorists online, a 35-page FBI affidavit shows the agency’s efforts in the Daoud case hew closer to the letter of the law than the spirit of preventing terrorism. Here’s a seven-step guide to how the FBI ended up arresting Daoud for a bomb the agency gave him.