The mechanism by which two electrons are ejected by a helium atom subjected to an intense laser field has been the subject of debate during the past decade. The consensus today in the community is that the second electron is ejected after the first one returns to the ionic core and rescatters. However, the specific details as to how this second electron is ejected remain uncertain. In this paper, we consider this process from two both quantal and semiclassical viewpoints, and propose a qualitative way of understanding how the second electron is ejected from a helium atom. ©2002 American Institute of Physics.