Active reserve (KGB) officers with a military rank who worked undercover in the Soviet Union. "Trusted contacts" were high placed civilians who collaborated with the KGB without signing any official working agreements, such as directors of personnel departments at various institutions, academics, deans, or writers and actors. Informers were citizens secretly recruited by the KGB, sometimes using forceful recruitment methods, such as blackmail. The precise number of people from various categories remains unknown, but one of the estimates was 11 million "informers" in the Soviet Union, or one out of every eighteen adult citizens The active reserve was established by Yuri Andropov in
KGB Security Troops in the Kremlin and key government-party buildings and officials at the republic and regional levels, counter-insurgency and counter-terrorist operations, and direct action in foreign countries. Such troops were presumably under the Ninth Directorate of the KGB. The Security Troops also included several units of signal troops, which were reportedly responsible for installation, maintenance, and operation of secret communications facilities for leading party and government bodies, including the Ministry of Defense. These troops were probably under the command of the Eighth Chief Directorate. The security were controlled by the Ninth Chief Directorate (Guards and KGB Protection Service), the Eighth Chief Directorate