The Denver ADS spanned the entire state of Colorado, nearly all of Utah, most of Wyoming and western Nebraska, and small parts of Kansas, Oklahoma, New Mexico, Arizona, and Nevada.

Potential targets in the sector included the military/industrial facilities and urban civilian populations of the metropolitan areas at Salt Lake City, Cheyenne, Denver, and Colorado Springs.

Along with the adjacent Reno Air Defense Sector, the Denver ADS was intended to be in the 27th Air Division ("Rocky Mountain" division) between 1 August – 31 December 1958, under NORAD's 25 July 1958, SAGE Geographic Reorganization Plan for the orderly transition and phasing from the manual to the" SAGE Defense System of radar stations, interceptor bases, and a new computer and communications network creating a Semi-Automatic Ground Environment.

[6]: 70 Previously planned bunkers for the SCC/DCs at Denver (27th) and San Antonio (33rd) plus an above-ground AN/FSQ-32 at Albuquerque[4] were reconsidered for the austere SAGE area to instead have "three Super Combat Centers in soft configuration".

[6] NORAD, USAF, and ADC agreed on a "new radar program" with the austere conditions, and on 9 December 1959, HQ USAF deferred construction of the underground "Denver" bunker for the SCC "because of budget considerations for FY 1961" (other SCCs, including the Ft Knox SCC/DC east of 86°30', were approved despite the hold order on SCC equipment).