A 26-year-old Massachusetts man with a physics degree was arrested and charged Wednesday with plotting an attack on the Pentagon and the U.S. Capitol with a remote-controlled model aircraft, authorities said.

Rezwan Ferdaus, a U.S. citizen from Ashland, Massachusetts, planned to use model aircraft filled with C-4 plastic explosives, authorities said.

As a result of an undercover FBI investigation, Ferdaus, who has a physics degree from Northeastern University in Boston, was charged with attempting to provide material support and resources to al Qaeda for attacks on U.S. soldiers overseas, authorities said.

His federal public defender couldn't be reached immediately for comment.

A law enforcement official said Ferdaus posed no immediate danger to the public because undercover operatives kept in close contact with him.

"There is no information to indicate he was connected to a foreign terrorist organization. It appears he was radicalized watching videos on the Internet. He was given the opportunity to back down, but he never wavered" from his intention to carry out the attacks, the source said.