AUTHORITY TO DETERMINE ELIGIBILITY AND ENTITLEMENT TO BENEFITS USING ALTERNATIVE SOURCES OF EVIDENCE .—The Secretary of Veterans Affairs may determine the eligibility or entitlement of a member or former member of the Armed Forces to a benefit under a law administered by the Secretary solely based on alternative sources of evidence in a case in which the military service records or medical treatment records of the member or former member are incomplete because of damage or loss of records after being in the possession of the Federal Government.