@flute, agreed! I'm not crazy about the fact that he'd never mentioned the double-check before (that I know of) but it does make sense to do so (both pro & con). And who knows, maybe they didn't have a plan for double-checking until recently. If it makes sense, do it, right?
I hope there aren't any other NEW phases to the process that magically appear this late in the game, the way that one did.