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A Bangladeshi man who tried to blow up the Federal Reserve Bank of New York remotely only to find that the bomb was fake and his plot had been under the constant surveillance of federal agents pleaded guilty on Thursday to terrorism charges.

The plea of the man, Quazi Mohammad Rezwanul Ahsan Nafis, 21, brought a quick resolution to a case that used one of the government's most popular strategies for identifying and pursuing terrorism suspects: Undercover agents and a confidential source who learned that Mr. Nafis wanted to conduct an attack gave him the materials for a fake bomb and other support, leading him all the way to the moment of detonation before arresting him in October.

In response to criticism of the law enforcement approach — and the claim that men like Mr. Nafis could not pull off an attack without the government's help — Loretta E. Lynch, the United States attorney for the Eastern District of New York, emphasized that the threat of terrorism was serious.

"We will not wait for our enemies to attack us before using the tools at our disposal to discourage, disrupt and ultimately detain them with lengthy terms of incarceration," Ms. Lynch said in a statement.

In Federal District Court in Brooklyn, Mr. Nafis pleaded guilty to attempting to use a weapon of mass destruction, which carries a sentence of up to life in prison. The guilty plea came just four months after he parked a van with the fake bomb outside of the bank, in Lower Manhattan, hoping to destroy the immense building in a fiery explosion and strike a blow to the American economy.

During the hearing, he flinched when Judge Carol B. Amon read the words "weapons of mass destruction."

"I had intended to commit a violent jihadist attack," Mr. Nafis said, speaking slowly and softly. "I no longer support violent jihad. I deeply and sincerely regret my involvement in this case."

The case began last July, when Mr. Nafis, who entered the country five months earlier on a student visa, told a man he met on the Internet about his hopes to conduct a terrorist attack, according to the criminal complaint. That man was a confidential source working for the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

The man introduced Mr. Nafis to a man he said was a member of Al Qaeda but who was actually a federal agent. In a series of meetings, Mr. Nafis and the undercover agent conceived and developed a terrorist plot that Mr. Nafis said would "destroy America," according to the complaint.

"I just want something big. Something very big. Very very very very big, that will shake the whole country," he said in one of the conversations recorded by the New York Joint Terrorism Task Force, which includes F.B.I. agents and members of the Police Department.

Mr. Nafis decided to target the financial district. He scouted the Federal Reserve building in August, taking pictures of it while federal agents were taking pictures of him.

The original plan was for a suicide mission, but that changed when Mr. Nafis said he wanted to return to Bangladesh first to put his affairs in order. The undercover agent encouraged him not to leave the country and suggested that Mr. Nafis use a remote-control device instead, so that he could stage the attack and go back to Bangladesh afterward.

On an October morning, the men built the fake 1,000-pound bomb in a local warehouse, using batteries, electrical items and large garbage bins that Mr. Nafis had bought, according to the criminal complaint. They assembled a detonator that was to be triggered by a cellphone, and drove in a van to the Federal Reserve Bank. Mr. Nafis was arrested in a nearby hotel after he tried to explode the bomb.

In a statement issued Thursday, George Venizelos, the assistant F.B.I. director in charge of the New York field office, said, "In order to stop those committed to terrorism from conspiring with others who would actually help them, we will continue to use all available tactics, including the use of undercover agents."

Nate Schweber contributed reporting.