Aliza Magen, who spent more than 40 years working for the Mossad, Israel’s national intelligence agency, eventually serving as deputy under three of its directors, making her the highest-ranking woman in the organization’s history, died on April 14 in Jerusalem. She was 87. She participated in some of the Mossad’s biggest operations, although many of the details of her work remain classified.

It was often hard for a woman to rise in the ranks of the Mossad, she said. Top leadership roles require experience working undercover in foreign countries, assignments that are difficult for women to manage while raising a family. At the same time, she pointed out that women agents often have an easier time working undercover because people are less likely to be suspicious of them.