The Washington Post reports that Facebook has hired Harvard alum Marne Levine as its new vice-president of global public policy, a term which appears to mean “Washington-based lobbyist.”

She will be based in Washington, just as the firm builds its local policy and lobbying team to address growing interest by lawmakers and regulators on how the social networking giant is dealing with issues such as copyright, security of children online, and privacy.

Levine will also help the firm build its policy teams in Asia, the Americas and Europe, the company said.…

So building policy teams in Asia, the Americas and Europe is…a part-time job?

What appears to have happened here is that Facebook has hired a Washington hand with very close connections to Larry Summers (more on this in a second) but wants to downplay the impression of a revolving door between the White House and lobbying. Thus, the v-p of global policy title even though that’s only an “also” part of Levine’s job description.

That may be why the next day Facebook seems to have gotten on message. In a June 25th report—the Post’s was 6.24—a website called InternetNews.com reports [emphasis added]:

Facebook spokesman Andrew Noyes told InternetNews.com that Levine’s primary focus will be international development, working with foreign governments and NGOs as the company expands in Asia, Europe and Latin America.

Glad we got that straight.

Now, what’s the Harvard-Facebook connection? (Other than the obvious one.)

Well, Levine helped broker a secret meeting between Summers and HMS grad Sheryl Sandberg, another former chief of staff of his who was then a v-p at Google. That meeting led to Harvard’s controversial but—before Summers made the decision—little-debated decision to participate in the Google books project.

Guess who now works for Facebook?

Sheryl Sandberg, of course….

Levine and Sandberg are friends; according to Vogue, Levine attended Sandberg’s wedding, and I’m guessing vice-versa as well.

There’s nothing illegal in all this, of course. But it does provide illustration into the cozy world of Washington access-peddling. This is how elites shape public policy about the world’s most powerful companies behind closed doors…