Was the father of my client [name withheld] involved with CIA activity and was that the reason for his coldhearted treatment of his family?

This indeed was the case. He was heavily corrupted, and acting as an instrument of darkness in many ways with his duties. He himself felt he was a valuable member of the prestigious governmental agency, critical for national defense of the United States. On the surface this was the case, and as a field operative he was covert, and could not share this great personal joy, and feeling of lofty status, with his family. Such is the secret agent's lot in life. This was a minor problem compared to the degree of negativity he experienced being embroiled in dark doings of all kinds. This took a toll on him emotionally, and psychologically. He was very much involved in illegal activities with political connotations, and was himself at personal risk at times. In a sense, he was a heroic figure because he did believe in his role. The tragic thing is, as time went on, he became more and more corrupted, to do more and more dark things, that were outside his normal moral framework and code of personal conduct, and he succumbed to the pressures and manipulation. This was done via mind control manipulation, and to achieve that level of manipulation and control, they suppressed his normal self in large measure. This was what the family was seeing in his level of detachment, and seeming disregard for their feelings. He was simply being switched off, so to speak, and unable to have his normal feelings around them when he was in his professional mode, which came to be the majority of his day. This is why he pulled away, and slipped away over time, from his loved ones, and was never the legacy he wanted to leave behind, but is a good example of what an alliance with the hidden government will extract as a penalty for the loyal workers who serve them. They will corrupt their soul, and will pay a heavy, heavy karmic price as well. The loss to the family will be added to his own karmic burden here, and is the smallest of the obligations. The harm he was indirectly responsible for included not only those people and their governments targeted by the covert operations he carried out, or supported, but also there are many consequences of his actions that play out into his effects on those who knew him— his family in particular. The damage caused is also extending forward and will be a future karmic burden as well.