The theory is that the FBI is trying to get to these people before someone else does. The flaw in that argument is that focussing on finding people that the FB

The theory is that the FBI is trying to get to these people before someone else does. The flaw in that argument is that focussing on finding people that the FBI can go to great lengths to convince to commit a terror plot, when the FBI is providing the supplies, the plan, the timing, the intel, the guns, the bombs, everything, means they're not focussing on people who are actually out there trying to convince people to become terrorists. So they're burning out any chance of goodwill with the muslim community because the FBI is secretly infiltrating otherwise innocent communities to try to convince them to do something illegal so they can arrest them, they're letting actual terrorists continue to act while they try to manufacture patsies to arrest instead, and they're actively creating people who are disenfranchised and hate the government out of a) the people they're turning into terrorists, and b) the people who like those people (e.g. other people at the mosque) who watch the FBI turn someone and then arrest them. In other words, the FBI is doing more harm than good in the long term.